Dawn Comes After the Dark
by mizuchinchin
Summary: It's been almost 8 years after Ash's death and while Eiji has found comfort in Ash's memories, he still mourns for him every year on his death anniversary. An intruder enters the house while Eiji sleeps and it's...Ash Lynx? How is he still alive? What will happen to their relationship? (Cross-published in AO3)
1. Chapter 1: Prelude

"Sing, did you actually see A-er…his b-body?

SIng Soo-Ling scowled a little, his memories of that day still haunting him. He did. He saw Eiji's body but because Sing was technically a gangster, he wasn't allowed to stay too long. He got a glimpse of Ash before the body on the stretcher was taken away and he was nudged away by authorities still dazed in unbelief.

Eiji put the rim of his cup on his mouth, blowing on it but not actually taking a sip. He just sat there at the porch, a fluffy blanket wrapped around his body. Buddy was sleeping, cozied up next to him. He looked up at the dark sky. Nothing. Just thick clouds covering the stars. New England winters can be harsh but Eiji didn't mind. Sitting on the old house's porch on the night of Ash's death anniversary had been his tradition since he came back to America.

He felt a nudge on his waist. He flinched but he knew it was just Buddy so he reached one hand out and ruffled his fur.

Sing stood a few meters away from him, leaning on the front door. He grit his teeth, "if I say yes, are you going to move on from Ash?"

Eiji took a sip of his hot cocoa and smiled, "probably not." He put his cup down and wrapped his blanket tighter around his shoulders. "I don't think I can ever forget Ash and totally move on." He turned around to look at his friend. He knows that Sing still feels some guilt about Ash's death. "Don't worry Sing," he assured his friend with a smile and stubbornly wanted to say his true feelings before Sing can say anything about being worried about him, "I know you're worried about me. I'm grateful for that. I'm happy." He looks back to the sky.

"I miss him. I wish he were here."

"Eiji, I-"

"He always left me to do something important. He'd lie to me about it. This is nothing new."

"…"

"this is just one of those times." Eiji put his knees up and rested his chin on top. It's just one of those times. Just like those times when Ash would tell him he's meeting up with Max even though he's actually making an agreement with his enemies - giving his life away for Eiji. It's just one of those times. Only this time it's longer. I can see him again soon.

Not yet. He can't die yet. Sometimes the loneliness gets too painful to bear. Sometimes it gets too lonely that he's contemplated not living if living means not being with Ash. But then he'd stop his line of thinking. No matter what Ash thought the moments he can't throw his life away. Ash showed him how thrilling life can be. How he can find peace in both happiness and sadness. For Eiji, throwing his life away was denying everything he experienced with Ash- denying Ash's life.

Eiji felt tears pooling in his eyes. Before it falls or freezes from the cold Cape Cod air, he wipes it off with his blanket.

Sing fidgeted in his spot. "I think we should go back inside," he opened the front door, "Ash's ghost would haunt me if he knew I let you catch a cold on his death anniversary" A soft chuckle came from Eiji, "you're right." Eiji stepped in and started going up the staircase, "Good night Sing." Sing smiled at him watching as he sleepily maneuver up to the second floor.

He flops into the Ash's old bed. He would be here a few times every year, changing the all-in-all presence of the house. It's tidied up compared to when they were last hear. He maintained the house, fixed the heater and water pipes, cleaned the rest of the house and even added some decorations and trinkets. But for Ash's room, Eiji left it as original as possible. He whiffs in the sheets. It doesn't smell like Ash anymore but he still remembers how Ash smelled. He crawled under the blankets and let the whole beddings and pillows embrace him, imagining that Ash was right there lulling him to sleep.

_Ash_

Eiji feels the name roll from his mouth as he finally found his sleep.

* * *

Sing pulls his hood back and removes his combat boots. He had just patrolled around the house for the third time. For the past 7 years and a half, he had stayed beside Eiji's side. Even if he had school and business matters to handle, he always makes a point to check up on his friend every couple days or so.

Ever since the Japanese guy immigrated to America, Sing made sure that Eiji was safe and happy. Partly because Eiji was one of his closest friends and he had a natural affinity for dangerous situations.

Partly because he knows that as Ash's closeted fan, it's his duty to protect Eiji. Letting someone hurt Eiji now would be traitorous to Ash's memory. From time to time, Yut Lung would threathen to hurt Eiji just for fun - or maybe he's bitter that Ash died because of Eiji? Whenever he would, he would ask Eiji if he can stay the night in his apartment. One time, Yut Lung's dangerous jokes went on for a whole month that Eiji ended up reserving his guest room for Sing.

Eiji didn't think he would be in danger anymore but still, he knew Sing carried some guilt for Ash's death and so, his friend humored him.

He can tell that Eiji was fully aware that he was being extra protective of him. But the angel still let him hang around. Maybe he was lonely and looking for company. Sing even made Eiji agree to some rules:

1\. Eiji has to keep his room unlocked when he goes to bed  
2\. When travelling, Eiji has to give Sing his itinerary and contact information  
3\. Eiji has to report to Sing whenever he encounters suspicious people

Even he thinks he's going overboard and barging into Eiji's privacy but he feels it's necessary. Eiji doesn't mind if it gives Sing peace of mind.

"Oooh, you're quite attached to your master, huh, good boy," Sing cringed at Yut Lung's entertained voice on his voice mail.

Sing lounged in the living room couch after his patrol. He opened his laptop to work on some school work while he guarded the house for a few hours more.

Aside from his typing, he doesn't hear anything else. He read through some reading materials for his business class report.

It was almost 3am, his eyes were starting to get too heavy. Just as he was scrolling through his term paper, looking for spelling mistakes, big letters started flashing on his MacBook screen.

GOOD

JOB

SING

What the fuck?! Sing's drowsiness was gone. Is this a prank?

I'M

COMING

FOR

EIJI

He dropped his computer on the couch and rushed upstairs to Ash's room. Shit shit shit. Did Yut Lung follow us to Cape Cod?

He turned around the bend of the hallway to reach Ash's room on the right. He reached the door knob to open the door, but it's not turning. Shit. Fuck. He banged on the door, "EIJI!" He banged more while screaming his friend's name. Fuck. Eiji, please be safe!

Sing was panicking but he tried to keep his cool. He stepped away from the door to give him some momentum to kick the door open.

CRASH! The door swung open, the bolt flying across the room.

"EIJI!" Sing screamed, his knuckles white from holding his knife so tight, scared that someone have abducted or harmed his friend while he slept.

Aside from the busted door, nothing else was amiss. He gently walked towards Eiji who was sleeping under his blanket, his head facing the other way. Sing turned the bedside lamp on and nervously peeked into Eiji. He was still asleep. How he can sleep through the whole banging and shouting and door-busting, he doesn't know.

Eiji's soft breaths were peaceful, his chest rising and falling normally. Relief washed over Sing's heart. He sighed, "you almost gave me a heart attack bud." What was the message for then? Was it just a prank from Yut Lung? He went over to the window, locked from inside and no signs of entry.

He shrugged. He doesn't feel any danger. Maybe he was just tired. He turned around to face the door again, slouching and tired. I'm gonna wash my face and sleep. I'll deal about that prank later.

Just as he was about to step out the bedroom door, he saw a figure of a person sitting on the arm chair at the corner of the room. He turned to the side to glare at the figure. His eyes widened in disbelief and shock.

"Thanks for protecting him, Sing."

Despite the fact that the only source of light was the bedside lamp, it was enough to recognize the person inside the room. He could recognize those eyes any time.

No. It can't be. You're supposed to be dead.

"Miss me, Sing?"

It was Ash Lynx. Ash fucking Lynx…or his ghost.


	2. Chapter 2: Postponed

"Miss me Sing?"

Ash stood up from his seat on his old arm chair.

"What are you, doing here?" Sing stepped backward and swiftly moved into a defensive stance, "Who are you?" Sing looks at him up and down. It looks like Ash, only a bit taller, grislier, his features edgier and sharper, his blonde locks cut to a short undercut. He was wearing denim jeans and a bomber jacket.

Ash noticed his friend's apprehension and raised his hands, "Didn't you see my message?" he scratched his head, "I'm here to come home and take Eiji." He looked over towards the bed's direction. Sing run towards Ash and pinned him down to the arm chair, the blade of his knife on Ash's throat, "How do I know you're not an impersonator?"

In the background, he could hear Buddy whimper at the commotion. For some reasons he doesn't need feel the need to be worried about what's happening. _Dumb dog,_ Sing thought. _Didn't even bark to let me know that someone is entering the house._

The blonde didn't budge and let Sing pin him into the arm chair. He sighed, "I get it. Sorry for surprising you like this. I'll explain everything when Eiji wakes up - but it might take a while since you put a lot of cinnamon on his hot cocoa-" Sing pushed him more, "You drugged him?!" No wonder Eiji could sleep through all the commotion, "Well, technically you did-I placed some sleeping powder with the cinnamon since I know Eiji always puts some in his and-" Sing cut him off by squeezing Ash's wrists above his head, "Who are you and what do you want?!" Sing repeated his question.

"_" Ash whispered on Sing's ears. Sing loosened his hold. "It really is you." Sing put his knife on a knife holder in his belt. He stepped away from Ash and then stepped forward hesitantly, "you're alive." He tried hard to suppress his tears, "Oh man, Eiji- he'll be so happy. Ash- he's been in so much pain after you died-well we thought."

Ash smiled almost childishly "Sorry for scaring you I thought it would be fun to surprise you.." Sing, who was tense just minutes ago was now laughing as he playfully punched Ash's shoulder. Ash ran his hand through his fluffy hair, "I can't wait for Eiji to wake up." The younger man smiled, "Hmph, that's what you get for drugging him."

"It all part of the surprise, I was going to whisk him away to the seaside hotel as he slept." Ash chuckled.

Ash asked about what happened to some of his former gang members. Sing wanted to ask more about how he survived but Ash only said, "Well for now, let's just say I 'm aiming for forever."

Ash's face suddenly became serious, "I can't tell you everything right now. It might still be too dangerous." What's wrong? Sing wanted to know everything. He thought he was updated about everything happening in New York. Apparently, he was at lost with a lot of things.. Especially about Ash and what happened to him.

There was a silence between Sing and Ash. Buddy was watching them from the other side of the room. Shrugging and trying to go back to sleep. Ash sighed deeply before he started walking toward Eiji's bed. Buddy stood up on 4 legs and walked away as if to step aside and let Ash nearer to his master. His eyes were glistening with tenderness and love. Sing can't help but blush at the one-sided tenderness from Ash.

After seeing Eiji hurt so much because of Ash's 'death;, he can't help but hate Ash a bit for it. But now, seeing how much the feeling of longing was mutual, he can't help but realize that it had not been easy for Ash too. They both longed and pined for each other. _Love, huh. _ Sing chuckled to himself. _I don't think I'm cut out for any of that. _

Suddenly, the silence in the room was broken by a chime coming from Ash's back pocket. Ash's face contorted to a grunt as he fished a flip phone from his back pocket. He flipped it open and his face turned into a wide shock before turning into almost an angry growl, "Ah fuck. For fuck's sake." He pressed a button on his phone and put it on his right ear, "Tell Blanca to meet me on the check point" put his phone back into his pocket and ran his hand through his hair, "Shit. Fuck. I thought this is over," Sing heard him mumble in between grunts. Sing walked towards Ash and peered over his side to look at Ash's eyes. They were on fire. "What's wrong?" hesitated to ask because he knew Ash wouldn't tell him any details but he did so anyway.

Ash put a hand on Sing's shoulder, "I have to go. Don't- don't tell Eiji that I'm alive…not yet…" Ash closed his eyes and took a deep breath when he felt that Sing was going to say something back, "please, don't ask anything. Keep Eiji from danger. I-I'm coming back soon." Ash went to the armrest to grab something from the side table and then rushed back to the bed to give Eiji one last look before he had to go again. He dipped down to kiss Eiji on the forehead and caress parts of his hair that's peeking from under the blanket.

"I'll come home soon." Ash and Sing exchanged a firm gaze and nod before Ash jumped from the window and ran towards a woody forest less than a mile away from the house.

Sing was speechless. There were so many questions left unanswered. _Why was Ash here? How is he alive? Blanca? I think I heard that name before…wait…isn't that the guy I've seen with Yut-Lung before? Is Ash working for Yut-Lung now? It can't be. The Ash I know wouldn't let himself be controlled by anyone like that. _

_How do I explain the broken door to Eiji?_

He looked at his friend who was peacefully sleeping on the bed a few feet away from him. His light breathing getting heavier.

* * *

"Oho," Blanca chimed playfully and leaned into the steering wheel as the passenger crept into the seat and buckled himself, "someone's grumpy." Ash just grunted as he sank into his seat, flipping his left hand to the older man's face. The Serbian just chuckled and shrugged his shoulder, "sorry your reunion had to be postponed…again."

Ash leaned to his right shoulder. "It's fine…the faster we finish this the better."

"It's for your 'forever' huh?"

"Yeah. Forever…" Ash mumbled as he tried to get some rest. He has been on the move for 18 hours now- since he had to leave his old house in Cape Cod. He had to run to the woods to retrieve an old car, before leaving it in a parking lot in downtown Boston, drive a different vehicle to Albany, and then a Mega bus to Toronto, Canada. From there he had to go find a certain dumpling house in Old Chinatown where Blanca and some of Yut-Lung's men are waiting. Meeting up with Yut-Lung's men was so tedious but he knew he had to do it that way to shake off anyone who might have followed him.

"Ah~" Blanca poked Ash on the back that was facing him, "how romantic."

Ash whipped his head back. "Shut up you old man, you're the same way too."

Blanca smiled as he revs the truck, "of course! I'm so in love with my honey." he starts driving towards the direction of a private airstrip, "I can't wait to go back to Hong Kong and see him again," he reaches over a pack of dumplings on the dashboard and grabs a piece with his fingers that he quickly popped in his mouth. He looks over to his right, "I can't blame you for being jealous." With that, Ash flashes another angry glare at him before tucking away into the far corner of the passenger seat.

After a short 15 minute drive to the airstrip, they enter the plane, its cargo and passengers already on board. The private flight attendant was a bit startled when the two men started climbing the stairs leading to the plane hatch but let them in nonetheless after peeking in the passenger seat and seeing her employer's nod. Blanca tipped his hat to the political figure who was sitting on the luxurious leather seats, "Good morning Mr. Geisler."

Andrew Geisler. US Ambassador to Hong Kong and Macau. An elderly man in his 60's who not only works in the US General Consulate in Hong Kong and Macau, he also has some connection to the Inter-Pol through his years serving in the US Navy Marines "Good morning, Blanca," he looked at Ash, "Kelly." Ash nodded to him in acknowledgement. Geisler lifted his hands to show them to the seats next to his booth, "Don't be so iffy about things. Feel free to make yourselves feel at home and rest." With that invitation Ash dropped down on the bench on the sleeping quarter. He's tired and still upset. He's tired and wants to sleep but because of the turbulence of the jet ascending to the sky made it hard for him to start sleeping, he just groaned and let his face sink down on the pillow on the sleeping bench. By the time they reached cruising altitude, he was already on the border of drowsiness. He fought for the will to stay awake so he can reach out to window just a few inches above his head to watch the view from up above the clouds, cruising around 40,000 feet up.

From the view above, Ash could see the purple shadows cast by the mountains of the northern states. Dawn was coming, the sun peeking from the horizon. _See you soon America. _He started to doze off, _ See you soon Eiji._

* * *

Buddy wagged his tail and barked playfully bouncing from side to side as Sing closed the door and opened it again, jiggling the door knob and tugging it to check if he installed the door knob properly. He was able to save the door from his break-in. Luckily, the only thing that was damaged was the door knob and locking device, chipping some wood from the circular slots where the knob and the door frame meet. Downstairs, Eiji was preparing their lunch. Nothing fancy, just simple subs with pastrami and cheese, something they can easily eat on the drive back to New York.

The morning after the incident, Eiji woke up like nothing had happened. By the time he was up, Sing was already working on the door, installing a new door knob. Good thing there were some spare door knob kits on a small shack behind the house. Eiji was surprised and asked Sing but he just bluffed and told him that he noticed that the lock was busted so he had to fix it. Eiji just shrugged and went downstairs. Sing sighed in relief, hoping that Eiji just assumed that the house needed repairs.

"SING!" Eiji called from downstairs, "I'm taking Buddy out for a walk"

Walking the dog wasn't the only thing that Eiji does the morning after Ash's "death anniversary". He knew Eiji would usually go to the diner where Ash's dad still lives although the diner is less of a diner now and more of a pub and together they would go to the town cemetery where both Griffin and Ash's tombstones are. For the first year after Eiji moved in to America, he went with him to visit the grave. But after realizing how much of a sensitive and intimate time It was for Eiji, he just left him to go on his own.

"I'll be back before lunch!"

"Yeah, yeah"

* * *

"Fruits, really?" Jim sarcastically took the basket with a small nod of thanks, "I'm not that old!"

Eiji chuckled as he scratched the back of his head in slight embarrassment, "Well, you were sick last year so we couldn't go together."

Instead of picking him up from the pub, they just decided to meet in the cemetery. Buddy barked playfully and scratched Jim's leg to ask for a scratch. He did so obligingly and looked at his sons' epitaphs, "hi, boys" he mumbled. He didn't really believe in life after death but because of Eiji's influence he started talking to their graves from time to time.

He was curious of Eiji's culture with the dead. He would pour water over the graves and burn incense for them. His influence prompted Jim to act on his own and even plant some daffodil bulbs on their graves - definitely a new hobby that he picked up after his sons' death.

Eiji clapped his hands together and prayed in front of the graves. He smiled at the thought of him talking to his sons. He could have had this boy as an in-law if only things turned out better for his sons. Sometimes he would blame himself for how Ash's life turned out but whenever he would start feeling that way, as if Eiji can read his dead-pan facial expression, he would comfort him and tell him it wasn't his fault. He would be comforted at the thought that at least, in his son's last two years of his life, he had someone like Eiji to love and receive love from.

"Thank you for loving Ash," Jim mumbled to himself, but maybe a little to loud because Eiji whipped his head, his face beet red. "I-uh…" Eiji started stuttering getting redder and redder every second. Jim chuckled and pat Eiji on the back, "That's okay kid. Everyone knows." As if on cue, Buddy climbed on his back, almost as if playing along with Jim's teasing.

Eiji pouted and twirled his hair with his fingers.

* * *

The attendant quietly closed the big red door behind them before bowing and stepping aside to the corner of the small sun room, "please feel free to sit down." She pointed with her palms to the circular table made of ebony.

Andrew Geisler stood by the door, two sharply-dressed people flanked him: Elizabeth Rogers, a petite lady of mixed ethnicity, her short brown hair placed on a half pony tail; and Dean Welsh, a tall dark-skinned man who looked gruff and strong, his biceps almost popping out from the short sleeve of his gray crew-neck t-shirt. Both of their faces looked stern. Both of them looking like they're here to mean business. Both were Inter-Pol agents.

"Ease up kids, you make me tense." Geisler chuckled and waved his hands at them. Rogers loosed her stance with a silent, "yes sir" while Welsh stayed the same. Geisler sighed and grabbed a seat. The two agents followed suit and sat on the seats next to Geisler.

After a few minutes of waiting, another red door at the end of the room opened. "We meet again Mr. Geisler." the man removes his hat, "thanks for bringing us home," he smiled and stood near the head of the table. Blanca smiled at the two agents beside Geisler, trying to make them less apprehensive, "the boss will be here soon, he was just talking with someone on the phone." Immediately after Blanca said that, someone entered the room through the glass doors from the outdoor zen garden. Blanca could tell that the agents were filled with awe especially Rogers. Her glassy eyes followed the person and Blanca could tell that she mumbled, "pretty" under her breath. He doesn't blame her for thinking that way. Yut-Lung does look pretty even for a man. He was wearing a long changshan shirt, his hair in a loose side bun. The young boss walked in with grace and poise. He looked more masculine now that he's much older than when Blanca met him for the first time, but his youthful appearance gives him a more androgynous beauty. Really, if he weren't the boss of the Lee Group, the biggest criminal family in China (extending it's reach to Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong and other Asian countries) he would definitely pass up as an international fashion model.

Blanca reached over to hold his boss' hand as if to guide him to his seat at the head of the table. With his other hand, he pulled the chair back to make Yut-Lung's sitting down easier. Yut-Lung narrowed his eyes as he glared at his bodyguard, sharply pulling his hand away before the body guard ex-assassin could put a peck on the back of his hand.

"Glad to see you again Mr. Lee" Geisler smiled at Yut-Lung. The Chinese mafia boss gave him a professional business smile, "likewise Mr. Geisler," he waved his hand and Blanca handed him a pile of papers. Geisler interlocked his hands under his chin, "let's review what happened." Yut-Lung lifted up some documents and read them, "three months ago, Inter-Pol finally captured the ring leaders of the Crimson Lion. According to the reports, it was a successful operation. But just a few days ago, our businesses received threats from someone who identifies himself as the new boss of the Crimson Lion."

Geisler banged his fist on the table, "What? I thought we already had the Crimson Lion destroyed." Welsh put his arm on the table and glared at Yut-Lung, "how do we know that you're not just playing us?" Yut-Lung just smirked, "Trust me, agent- Welsh, is it? I'm not going to put my whole group in danger just to play tag. Plus, the Crimson Lions are our biggest competitor and Rival in our operations in Asia. Plus, we have personal reasons to destroy them." The Crimson Lions was an organized crime group that was Headquartered in Shanghai that extended its tentacles to different Asian cities, Bangkok, Macau, Manila, Taipei, Ho Chi Minh, Seoul and even in Los Angeles. Both organized crime groups, the Lee and the Crimson Lions, both grew their size using their business and smuggling rare goods, weapons and drugs. For generations, the Lee had been competing against the Crimson Lions for a hold in Asia, after Yut-Lung inherited the Lee Group, the Crimson Lions made the mistake of underestimating the new boss and provoking Yut-Lung by interfering with their trade route and trying to get their biggest clients, causing wars that killed men from both sides. Because of all the commotion in Asia, Yut-Lung had to move back to Hong Kong to keep things controlled in the East, leaving things to Sing back in New York.

For the past several years, they've been working with a good friend of Yut-Lung's father, Andrew Geisler and by extension the Inter-Pol - something that not everyone within an organized group agree with. That alone should make their enemies cower in fear. The Lee Group was egoistical and confident enough to work with the authorities. They knew that no matter how they work with the Inter-Pol they can never find enough dirt on them to destroy their group. Plus, both sides know that authorities working with the Lee Group is beneficial to the peace in Asia, without the Lee Group to control the Chinese organized crime rings, there would be a power vacuum and would result in chaos.

"So you're being high and noble, now?" Welsh was brave. Not a lot of people can confront the Chinese boss this way. From the other side of the table, Sing can see the slight panic in Rogers eyes even if she tried to look like she was calm and composed. Yut-Lung shrugged and put his hands up in a jesting manner, "Whoa, agent, you're mistaken here." he fingered his loose hair before crossing his arms in front of his chest, "I'm no hero. The Lions get a big chunk of their revenues from their child trafficking and pornography. It would crush them if we could destroy their child trafficking ring. That's the only reason why we're working with Inter-Pol. Agent. Welsh." He emphasized Welsh's name at the end.

Agent Rogers and Welsh weren't the first Inter-Pol agent they worked with. Before them, they worked with Agent Ramirez and his partner Agent Ye - killed in action, Agent Samuels - retired from the assignment, Agent Jihwoo - killed in action just recently during the capture of the heads of Crimson Lions. "Our intelligence reports did not detect any activity from their old headquarter in Shanghai." Rogers opened a file in her tablet to read a report. Blanca leaned into the top of the table, "Thank you but we're one step ahead of you agent," he smiled, "we have an expert on our side who's good at tracking online signatures. Right now, he's working on looking where the threats are coming from."

At a snap of Yut-Lung's finger, a servant appeared from behind the agents and handed them a thick document bound by a metal clip, "in the mean time, here's what my men have gathered. It might do you some good to investigate on those locations to make sure they're not reviving their child pornography and trafficking activities- after all, isn't that why Inter-Pol wanted to work with us in the first place?" He placed his right hand gracefully under his chin, "it's a win-win situation." Rogers and Welsh clenched their teeth. They were Inter-Pol agents sitting inside the office of an organized crime ring but they're powerless to take the Lee Group down. Such was the futility of man's justice system. They understood that they didn't stand a chance, in fact, it would be more beneficial for everyone, including the citizens, if Inter-Pol just left the Lee Group hold power in this region just as long as they don't do anything too fishy not to deal with. Geisler smiled at Yut-Lung, "I have a meeting this afternoon so I have to go soon," he stood up, his confidence shows that he's used to dealing with the Lee Group, "I'll tie loose ends on my end to make sure there's no suspicious activities moving to the States." The elderly man grabbed his hat and tipped it sideways to acknowledge Yut-Lung who just waved and smiled at him as if to see him off. Rogers and Welsh soon followed suit.

After their guests leave, a servant brought a tray of oolong tea and some cups. As if on cue, Blanca stood up and poured tea on a cup before setting it down in front of Yut-Lung who was still sitting on the table.

The mafia boss sighed, and rubbed his temple with his left hand, "Ash, I know you're there."

"You called?" he slides out from behind one of the thick marble columns.

Blanca smiles and stands behind Yut-Lung, rubbing small circles on both sides of Yut-Lung's scapula, before placing a gentle hand on top of his left shoulder- a gesture that the Chinese boss returned by intertwining his right fingertips with his body guard's.

Ash groaned sarcastically at their public display of affections.

"Clean your tracks and make sure you weren't followed to America." Yut-Lung mumbled, only loud enough to be heard by Ash and Blanca.

"Tsk." Ash just grumbled. As if he needed to hear that from Yut-Lung. Ash might be working with Yut-Lung right now but it's not like he's fully submitting himself under the Chinese crime lord, "I would've done that even you didn't tell me to."

Right now, Ash's job is to ensure Eiji's safety. He realized a reunion with Eiji right now was too good to be true. If he wanted his 'forever' with the man, he'd have to win this war first. He can never let any harm go Eiji's way ever again and he's wiling to do anything for it. Even if it meant the cost of his freedom. Even If it meant working with the Chinese mafia. Even if it meant hiding the fact that he was dead to almost all of his friends and loved ones. Even if it meant he was risking his life.

He'd rather put himself in harm's way a million times if it meant he could peacefully retire to Eiji's side.


	3. Chapter 3: Hello Stranger

_It's cold. Ahh, this is dying. I'll finally be free._

_Sorry Eiji, I can't be with you in Japan. But with this…with me gone, you'll be free too._

_Live a long life Eiji. I'm sure you'll forget about me soon.._

_I'll always be with you Eiji…_

New York's central library was filled with a sharp shriek as a lady tripped on the carpet flooring beside where Ash was slouched over. She sat on the floor and noticed cold thick blood dripping into a pool of blood on the wooden floor.

…

…

…

The bright summer sky welcomed him from the windowsill sitting next to his bed. Hot humid air went in the room, giving just enough warmth to make him feel sensations on his right arm where sunlight was touching it.

_Where am I? Why am I alive?_

He groggily opened his eyes, and tried to raise his arm and grasp where the light was coming from. He reaches to the open window, a pasty skinny arm with tubes connected to it, came into view.

"Glad to see you're up" It was a familiar voice. He couldn't tell who it was. He turned his head slowly to the left to see a faint figure sitting a few feet from him. The man was extending his hand to give him a soft pat on the forehead.

Confused, groggy and missing some memories, Ash squinted his eyes trying to focus and identify the person talking to him. "Who are you?" Ash tried to reach his hand, "Griff?"

"What's your name, kid?" Blanca presses the button to call the nurses over just as he promised that he'd call them over when their patient wakes up.

"Ash. Ash Lynx."

His name felt like prickly bitter gall in his mouth. His heart and body followed through and his back started shivering, his hands started shaking. "Why am I alive?" he looked down into his hands, "I wanted to die."

"I wanted to die Blanca!" he cradled his head in his hands to try to soothe the headache.

So you remember me, huh. Blanca stood next to the hospital bed and towered next to Ash, "why did you try to kill yourself?" Nurses came to the door but hesitated to enter when they saw Blanca extend a hand to the door. "-set him free." Ash mumbled, "I wanted to set him free-wait…who?" he gripped his hair, "what- who-who was I setting free?"

A piercing shout echoed through the private room. The nurses came running in to try to calm him down

_Why am I still alive? What had happened? Who was I setting free?_

Ash tried to think while he was having a breakdown. His head was throbbing and it hurt like hell. He's confused. He can't remember a big chunk from his memory. The last thing he can remember was…what?

"GRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Ash ripped the IV needle stuck into his forearm and tried to jump out of the bed. A handful of nurses squealed as he jumped up and head to the door. An elderly doctor with wispy strands of hair on top of his balding head quickly jumped into action and grabbed a syringe from the tray one of the nurses was pushing and stabbed Ash with it on the nape as he ran past him.

Their patient was able to run off but soon after, everyone in the room heard a loud thud in the hallway not long after Ash escapes his ward.

"My, my, Mr. Blanca. You should've told me that his wild nature doesn't only end at his name." Guan Guoyong, the elderly doctor scratched his wrinkly crow's feet with a fountain pen he picked up from his lab coat pocket. Blanca smiled as he watched some elderlies and nurses clamor around Ash who passed out sedated on the cold tiled floor of Dr. Guan's underground medical center. "Well, if he wasn't such a wildcat, we probably wouldn't have needed your services."

Some medical staff carried the unconscious Ash on the bed.

Dr. Guan tapped the clip board a nurse handed him with the pen he used to scratch his face, "let's try this again."

"By all means doctor," Blanca bowed as he picked his phone from his back pocket to give an important call.

"Hello Yut-Lung."

* * *

"Have you calmed down, now?" Blanca gently asked Ash when he regained consciousness.

Ash tried to sit up from his medical bed, drips still attached to his arms. Blanca saw him struggling so he got up from his chair to help Ash prop himself up with a pillow on his back. The younger man cradled his head with his hands. "Blanca, why am I alive?"

Blanca sighed as he sat on the edge of the bed, "I think the question is, 'why did you kill yourself.'"

Ash groaned, "I don't know. I can't remember. I might just be sick of everything. I might just be done with the whole ordeal."

"Why do it when everything else was done? You could've killed yourself earlier on but why kill yourself after being set free from Papa."

"I don't know."

"You don't?"

"I don't know, okay?!" Ash's voice started rising in discomfort. _I just know that something is missing. I can feel a hole in my heart, knowing that I'm missing something but I don't know what or who or why._ Ash wanted to explain it to his friend and mentor but he couldn't explain it to himself so he just gave up.

"…very well." Blanca grabbed his phone from his coat pocket and propped it near Ash's legs. It was Yut-lung on Facetime.

"Hello, Ash." Yut-Lung greeted from the other side of the screen. The seventeen-year-old mafia boss had a grin on his face, "congratulations on your new lease on life. Your friend Blanca was worried about you and couldn't retire to the Caribbean until he was sure you won't do something stupid so he checked up on you."

"Good thing I did." Blanca crossed his arms and nodded, "when you were found in the library, you were found bleeding to death."

"…" Ash was silent as he clutched his fists into tight balls, "…I wanted to die…" he gritted his teeth. Ash Lynx knew he has had a miserable life. He's been through a lot from childhood. He knows people have sacrificed themselves for him. It's a dog kills dog world and it had never been so real than the cruel streets of New York. There had been events in his life where he thought death would be a better solution. Being raped and abused from childhood was far worse than being in hell. Being used by the perverted mafia boss Papa Dino was definitely sickening to the bone but even then he fought and crawl and thought his way through to survive.

Survival.

That was a primal instinct that Ash Lynx had to depend on to survive this for long. Even when many of his friends had died…Griffin, his brother, Shorter, his best friend…there were more. He knew he was forgetting people…he knew he had to remember…Banana Fish. Two years of his life wasted on fighting Papa Dino and his men…for Banana Fish, so they can't use Banana Fish. But what for? Why was he fighting for dear life all those years only to kill himself in the end? Why was he so desperate to end it all? It wasn't him to throw everything away, throw all the lives of the people who died for him away. Out of guilt? Was guilt eating him up? Guilt for killing people? He was just exacting revenge. For Ash, those people were so evil they didn't deserve to live anyway.

Was he evil too? Did he deserve to die too? Was that why he just chose to kill himself? To exact justice on himself?

Maybe so, but it didn't feel like something he would do.

After all, what he wanted most of all was freedom. He wanted a way out. He wanted a second shot at life after Papa died. Instead, all he had was a stab to his side that left him bleeding to death.

"Why?" he grabbed his head to try to prod himself to think, "it doesn't make sense." With trembling hands and bloodshot eyes, he looked at Blanca who was silently watching his movements, "am I missing something?"

Blanca shrugged. He knew that, for some reasons, Ash had selective amnesia and he was forgetting the one thing that was grounding him to reality. The one person who gave him both the opportunity to live, and the motive to die. He was forgetting all about the love of his life, Okumura Eiji.

When Ash was found on the NYPL, there was a folded letter with blood prints next to him. Blanca saw it and took it. It made sense to him why Ash wanted to die after reading the contents of the letter. Eiji granted him freedom, the opportunity to escape with him, the hope that they would someday meet again, the promise of forever. But Ash, probably didn't believe in Eiji. He couldn't see past his own guilt and sins. He knew that he was tying Eiji down. He wanted nothing more but for Eiji to live peacefully and pursue his own dreams away from all the life-threatening streets of New York - away from being put into danger just because he is associated with Ash Lynx. He might be safe in Japan but what's stopping his enemies from going after him when he goes back to America? If he dies…Eiji will be truly free. He won't have to be tied to his promise with Ash. He would be free to move on and live life to the fullest.

He didn't believe that he was special to someone, especially not to Eiji who had a future ahead of him. If his death would set him free…at least giving up his life would have meant something.

"Does it matter? Even if you don't know it now…if it really matters, you might remember it someday…" Blanca looked straight at Ash's eyes, "if you don't remember…then it probably wasn't that important in the first place." On the other side of the screen, Yut-Lung was giving a cocky nod.

"Anyway" Yut-Lung started talking again from the other side of the screen, "I'm here to give you another chance at life.

"To the public, Ash Lynx is now dead." The Chinese mafia boss clapped, "you now have your second chance at life. You have a clean slate you can start again with. With my connections, it would be easy to give you a new identity."

Blanca could tell that Ash was about to say something to reject the idea. But before Ash could say anything, he clasped his shoulder, "At the very least Ash, you can find out what you were missing."

Ash gritted his teeth, "…What's the point?" He'd rather die than let himself be Yut-Lung's pawn.

"My my, Ash, I'm willing to do all of that for you just for something only you can help me with." Yut-Lung snapped his fingers and in a moment, Blanca sighed and handed Ash some documents with pictures and maps. "In the six months that you have been in a coma, the Lee Family had been working its way to expand its influence from Hong Kong and greater China to South East Asia. However…"

Ash read the file handed to him. Actually, he didn't have to read through all of it, he could tell the gist of it from scanning what he could read. It was talking about the Crimson Dragon syndicate in Asia - The Lee Group's greatest rival. It revealed pictures of the child trafficking syndicate within the group.

He didn't need further explanations, he knew what Yut-Lung needed him to do. He wanted to use Ash Lynx to take down the child trafficking syndicate in order to bring down their rival Group. Ash would be the perfect guy for the job. He knew how the child trafficking and pornography industry worked.

Ash clenched his fist and gritted his teeth at the thought of innocent helpless children going through what he experienced. He could've turned his head away and ignored it, but he couldn't do it.

He raised his arm to fold it up and flex his arm muscles. He looked at Blanca, "When can I start rehab?"

* * *

"Are you sure you want to stand in line with me?" Sing peered into the long cue in front of him, by the looks of it they still had to line up for an hour before they could go inside the boutique that had the limited edition item that Akira wanted Eiji to buy for her, "there are heaps of people lining up for this bag thing." It was a cold day in the middle of winter and it was quite funny seeing two men cluelessly queue in the cold outside a posh New York store. Neither of them looked particularly fashionable either. Eiji was wearing a simple sweater (he got from the department store a few years ago, threads fraying from use) over his everyday collared shirt. Not that you can see the collar anyway, because it's hidden under a thick wool scarf. The younger man standing next to him, Sing Soo-Ling, is wearing a wool trench coat over his college hoodie, ripped jeans and casual combat boots. Regular people probably can't tell that before them was the rising star photographer and the young leader of the Chinatown mafia.

Eiji scratched the back of his head in realizing that the line to the Rockefeller shop was actually longer than he thought it would be when he promised Akira that he would buy the bag for her. "Well, if one of us would have to cue for it, it should be me since I did promise Aki-chan."

Rockefeller Center had been crowded that day too, despite the winter holidays being over for weeks now. Gone were the Christmas décor and instead, the famous shopping center was filled with shoppers who were expecting the new Valentines decorations to roll around soon.

Eiji and Sing were just two of the hundreds -if not thousands of the people who swarm the busy midtown complex. The line they were on started parallel to 5th Ave but because they had to accommodate the other shoppers and pedestrians (not to mention the Salvation Army people who were dancing on the corner of the sidewalk), Sing and Eiji actually had to be on the line parallel to 51st.

The younger taller guy pushed Eiji off the line, "It's partly my fault too, I told her about the limited edition purse," he pushed his hand deep into his back pocket and proceeded to hand Eiji a green Starbucks card and a thin wad of smaller bills, "here, why don't you do me a favor and buy me a coffee? I could use a Nitro." Sing smiled as he asked Eiji for the favor. In truth, he just wanted to be the one to buy the purse for Akira. After all, she texted him that she was stressing out about the one of the biggest things a fifteen-year-old student could stress about- her high school entrance exam. For sure, the designer purse would be a good reward for when she passes her exam and gets into the high school of her choice.

"Oh…okay. I mean…I don't think I even know what purse she actually wanted" Eiji smiled, "you're a lifesaver Sing, I don't think I can face Aki-chan if I bought her the wrong one". He took the Starbucks card and put it in his wallet before walking away towards the other side of the block so he can cross the road and walk to Starbucks. He's been to the same branch with Sing a couple of times so the staff generally has an idea of what they regularly order. Eiji would usually get a matcha latte with additional scoops of tea and less sugar, while Sing preferred the Nitro cold brew with a pump of caramel.

Within 20 minutes, Eiji was back, a cardboard coffee holder with their drinks nestled on it. The line had moved and Sing was back to the sidewalk parallel to the 5th. The two friends spotted each other right away and Eiji jogged over to him, dodging in between the walking pedestrians.

He handed the cold brew to his friend and grabbed the other one with his left hand, separating it from the cardboard container. Sing gave him a quick thanks as Eiji gave him the cold brew - the Starbucks card set on top of it. Eiji grabbed the container with his right hand while he looked around for a garbage bin he could throw it in.

"Ah there!" Eiji spotted one right on the corner of the block and brisk walked towards it and evading the pedestrians once again, his latte on his left hand. However, out of the blue, a skateboarder came from the corner of the block, forcing the pedestrians to move to his left. Ash tried to dodge the skater by pulling his body away and turning to his left. But the way he jerked his body to the side made him almost lose his balance if not for two sturdy hands that propped him up.

The taller gentleman smiled at him as he supported Eiji on his way up, "Ararara~ be careful, wouldn't want to ruin your pretty face."

Eiji looked to see who helped him. It was a taller Asian gentleman probably around his age who had an accent Eiji can only distinguish as posh and slightly British. "I'm really sorry." Eiji turned to look at the stranger. He turned to check his latte that was supposed to be in his left hand. Instead, the cup was on the floor, its green contents spilled on the shoes of the man who propped him. Eiji's eyes trailed up from the spot where the cup was, following a trail of green foam from the hem of the gentleman's expensive-looking slacks to the cashmere trench coat that the stranger was wearing. The young photographer gasped when he realized that he completely ruined the clothes of a well-dressed and need I say- handsome stranger.

"I'm so sorry!" Eiji bowed over and over again to the stranger. "It's alright. Please don't beat yourself up over it. I can have it dry-cleaned and I'm sure it'll come off." The stranger smiled as he took off his trench coat, carefully folding it and hanging it on his arm.

"I'll pay for the dry cleaning!"

"Oh no, I can't-"

"Please! I insist!"

Eiji scrambled to look for a business card from his wallet. When he was able to get one, he offered it to the stranger who silently read it with a smile, "please call me and let me know how I can make amends."

"Well…if you want, you can accompany me to lunch today" the young stranger smiled at him, casually flirting at the oblivious photographer, "I'm quite new to this city and would very much love the company."

"I'm with a friend right now and we were going somewhere today…so today is a bit…" Eiji tried to look for Sing in the line but he wasn't there anymore. Sing of course, had long been inside the boutique, fighting over other customers for the limited edition purse, no doubt.

"Is that so?" the stranger rummaged through his folded trench coat for something. When he found it, he handed it over to Eiji. It was a fancy black business card printed on glossy acrylic. The stranger looked at something behind Eiji before looking back at the Japanese man who was reading his business card, "My Uber is here so I have to go. See you soon, Eiji Okumura. Please call me" he was waving at Eiji until his Uber disappeared, blending in with the rest of New York's traffic.

_Hyun-jae Choi_  
_Director_  
_Anton de Luca Institute of International Art, New York_

"Hyun-jae Choi…director?!" Eiji tried reading his name. He looked not that much older than him but realizing that the person he just bumped into was the director of a big art museum in New York made him all the more embarrassed about the encounter

"What's up Eiji? Did something happen?" Sing approached him as he exited the shop, a fancy-looking paper bag is hanging on his left hand while his Nitro was still on his right, un-spilled and safe. Sing got curious as to why his friend was blushing like a teenager who did something bad in class.

* * *

A shrill squeal reverberated from Eiji's New York flat. Particularly from the iPad that is propped up on top of the breakfast counter marble countertop. Eiji scratches his ears to pop the pressure that built after the squeal came from Akira who Eiji and Sing were Facetiming after her entrance exam.

"Oh wow! Oh wow! Oh wow! I can't believe you seriously bought me that purse! Thank you Eiji-niichan!"

"Congratulations for being done with the exam" Eiji smiled at her as he tried to fix dinner for both Sing and himself, "the one who actually went inside the shop and bought it was Sing." Eiji wanted to give it to her after she passed the test but she looked really sad and stressed out when she called so they decided to spill the surprise to cheer her up.

Sing shrugged and waved at the camera.

"I probably would have bought the wrong purse if it were me." chuckled at the thought.

The three of them were having a fun time talking and catching up when all of a sudden, the curry Eiji was cooking boiled over the pot, "Ah, sorry I need to keep on stirring the curry, I'll leave you to Sing," he said as he pushed the tablet closer to his friend who started talking to her enthusiastically about his classmates in university.

Hearing laughter inside his condominium studio makes him remember all the fun days he spent with Ash and his gang. True it was dangerous and heart-breaking at times but all the memories and relationships he has made through those two years made it all worth it. It has been so long since Ash died and as much as he tried to move on, those memories were shackles that kept him chained and imprisoned from moving on from Ash. That longing was embodied in how Eiji has kept his hair long since Ash left them. At first, he wanted to keep it as a charm or a prayer that Ash was secretly alive somewhere and happy. After all, neither him nor Sing nor Max nor anyone he knew saw Ash's dead body. When Ash died, all they had was a news report about how he was discovered dead inside the NYPL. Eiji tried to get some insider information from the police but they only confirmed that the dead body they exhumed and cremated was Ash Lynx's.

Despite the confirmation from authorities, there was a pang in his chest telling him that he will see Ash again soon. Maybe in a few years, maybe in the afterlife or maybe just in his dreams. Nonetheless, he couldn't accept fully that Ash is gone. After all, he promise, didn't he? They promised a vow of forever. A few years after Ash's death he tried dating people to hopefully move on with his life. The first one was an underclassman who was in the same club as him in college. She said she didn't mind that Eiji couldn't move on from his memories of America but she soon gave up and broke up with him.

The second one was an older girl who went to a different university. They met in Eiji's part-time job.

The third one was a year after he moved to America, it was someone introduced to him by his landlord.

The last one so far ended 2 years ago.

None of the relationships lasted more than a few months. They all said they don't care about Eiji's past. They all told him that they're fine with Eiji not liking them mutually because he might learn to love them in the future. They all broke up with him because they could tell that it was taking Eiji everything he has to accommodate them but it wasn't working. Both sides were to blame.

"Your hand stopped moving," A deep voice came from behind him. He turned to see that it was Sing, peering over his shoulder to look at the curry that was boiling over. Because Eiji kept the electric stove on high but he wasn't moving the wooden spoon that he had been holding vertically in the pot. In a state of panic, he turned the knob to the electric stove off and mixed the thickening curry to keep it from spilling over.

"By the way," Sing grabbed a teaspoon to taste the curry, "I saw you talking to someone when we were at Rockefeller. Was he someone you knew?"

Eiji crossed over to the other side of the kitchen to check on the rice cooker, "Oh not at all, I spilled my latte on him so we exchanged cards so I can pay for his cleaning fees. But he told me that I can make amends by going out to lunch with him."

Clang! Sing dropped his spoon on the tiled kitchen floor, "He what?" Eiji turned around to pick it up, confused at his friend's surprise. Sing can hardly believe how dense his friend was. A stranger was coming on to him and asking him out and the prospect of the stranger flirting with him never crossed his mind. Granted that all the people he dated after Ash died were all women, that didn't mean that he never saw the possibility of Eiji having a relationship with a man. Sure, as far as he knows, Eiji and Ash's relationship has never been sexual, but that never stopped them from loving each other.

Sing looked at his friend with dead-pan disappointed eyes.

"What?" Eiji rolled his eyes.

"You do know what that means…don't you?"

"Yeah," Eiji shrugs his shoulder, "he wants to keep in touch so I can pay off his cleaning fee."

"NOOOO!" The younger man flipped an imaginary table In front of him, "It means he's trying to ask you out on a date. Like, he's interested in you that way."

"Oh…" Eiji turned the stove off and stood there, his arms crossed. Slowly his cheeks started turning redder and redder as the reality sunk in. He whipped his head to look at Sing, "T-that's not…I-it's not that way! We're both men!"

"Pfft" Sing raspberries, "So were you and Ash."

It was at that moment that Sing realized that he shouldn't have brought Ash up in the conversation. He sounded like he was encouraging Eiji to entertain the possibility of starting a relationship with the stranger. Stranger still, is that he knows that Ash and mysteriously hiding from Eiji.

After their trip to New England for Ash's death anniversary, he tried to contact Yut-Lung to ask if he knew anything about Ash. The Chinese mafia lord just averted the question and changed the subject.

"He's not here anymore…" Eiji broke the silence by whispering under his breath. Sing scratched his head in regret, "Sorry Eiji, I know I shouldn't have-"

The older man just shrugged and opened a cupboard to grab some plates to set the table, "It's okay. I should be over it now…"

For several minutes none of them peeped. Eiji and Sing were just setting the table for the two of them and checking whether the rice is cooked to fluffy perfection. Sing wanted to ask Eiji what he thinks of the possibilities of Ash being alive but he promised to himself that he won't bring Ash up again unless Eiji was the one who started it. He wanted so bad to tell Eiji that Ash is in fact, alive and kicking, but he didn't know what the exact scenario was. Why was Ash being so secretive? Is Eiji in danger?

"I uh-" Eiji started in a voice so soft it was almost a whisper, "I wanted to protect Ash."

Sing hitched his breath. He could hear the pain in his friend's voice. He wanted to tell him the truth so bad. That Eiji was alive. That Eiji came back for him even for a few moments. That Eiji will probably come back for him again. But he can't. Ash seemed on high alert that night, and he wouldn't want to risk Eiji but saying something just out of emotions. Instead, Sing gritted his teeth and tried to focus on piling some rice into his plate.

Eiji turned around, a gentle forced smile plastered on his face, "-but he won't let me. I guess he didn't trust me enough."

The college student didn't know what to say so he just concentrated on his food, getting a hefty scoop of Eiji's curry to pour into his plate. He tried to concentrate on his food instead of Eiji. He's been next to him since Ash died and while he's open to comforting Eiji and making him feel - well… less sad about Ash's death, he found out through the years that sometimes the best way to comfort Eiji was to not a big deal out of him talking about Ash and instead sit around and listen to Eiji talk about him. Similar to what's happening right now.


	4. Chapter 4: Memories Remembered, Memories

(7 Years ago)

Blanca knocked on the big red door in front of him. He has been working for Yut-Lung in Hong Kong for almost 6 months now and he still finds the red door to the Lee Group's boss' office intimidating. He knocked but he still opened the door without waiting for a response from young boss.

"Welcome back," Blanca started walking towards the big desk in the far end of the room, "how was Hanoi?" Even if Yut-Lung was a young man not even old enough to drink alcohol legally, he was already diligent with his job as the boss of the big enterprise. It was something that really impressed Blanca and the rest of his staff. They all knew what he did to get to the top of the hierarchy but that doesn't mean that they're only following him out of fear. Instead, they all know that the young boss was a perfect banner that even people who were not born in perfect privileged backgrounds can still emerge victorious and successful.

Yut-Lung raised his head from the document he was reading. He pulled an obvious irritated face. He grabbed the pile of papers in front of him and divided it into two, placing the slightly taller closer to the right edge of the table. He pointed with the butt end of his pen to a chair sitting right next to the red door, "go grab that chair and help me with my paperwork."

Blanca just stood there—smirking and grinning. The young master was used to people being at his beck and call, following his orders with a snap of a finger. Blanca's aberrant behavior was unwelcomed but he knew exactly what the older man was doing. He gritted his teeth and glared at Blanca.

"-se"

"What was that, young master?" Blanca grinned sarcastically.

"-lease"

Blanca cupped his hand into one of his ears and pulled them toward the young boss who was starting to get as red as his office door.

Yut-Lung almost clenched his fist so hard his ivory pen almost cracked. "I SAID - HELP ME WITH MY PAPER WORK! PLEASE!

"Yes boss" Blanca had an amused smile. He's been trying to help (unwantedly) Yut-Lung with his etiquette. That- plus he just loves teasing the young boss because no matter what Yut-Lung tries to do to harm him, he will always have the upper hand. After all, battle skills and espionage aside, Yut-Lung after all was the one who almost pleaded for Blanca to work for him - again.

He walked over to the chair to move it towards the desk. He sat down, a few feet away from his boss to help him with paper works. It's impressive in a way, because Yut-Lung was the one who insisted that he wants to handle the majority of the paper work. His team of secretaries offered to help him just as they always did with the former bosses.

"So…" after a good fifteen minutes of just silently reading through contracts and business papers and sorting them out, Yut-Lung was the one who broke the deafening silence., "why didn't you want to tell Ash about Eiji Okumura?"

The older man didn't flinch at the question. "Ash doesn't need Eiji Okumura.."

"But you told me before that-"

_You told me that taking Eiji away from Ash would just make him like one of us._

"Regardless of what I said before, I think it's a good thing that Ash had forgotten about him. Ash was given another chance at life. Forgetting about Eiji means that he doesn't need to protect him anymore. He can have another reason to live – hopefully this time something that he would want to live for."

"I can't believe you just said that. Just a year ago you were telling me that you were defying my orders about killing Eiji because of what he is to Ash."

"Well that's insignificant now."

"Then, are you going to kill Eiji?"

"I don't have a reason to. Plus, I don't want Ash to hate me if ever he ends up remembering him in the future."

"I'm confused."

"Well, I meant it when I told him that if he ends up remembering what he forgot, them maybe it's meant for them to be together."

"So you're just a romantic old man."

Blanca shrugged, "and you're a naïve young master. I'm excited to see you fall in love in the future.

Yut-Lung waved his wrist smugly, "I'll never expose myself to that kind of weakness."

"We'll see" Blanca hums and turns his head to his right, playfully peeking back at his boss with this left eye.

"WHAT?" Yut-Lung seethes and grits his teeth.

_I'm really looking forward to when you finally find someone you can trust with your whole heart and body - someone you can be vulnerable with but also want to protect. Someone you'd want to give to even if it deprives you of everything you want. Someone who'll give you a purpose for living. Someone who'll make you feel alive. Until then, I don't think you're ever going to completely understand Ash._

"By the way, I heard a commotion downstairs, what happened?" Yut-Lung asked to change the topic. Something that Blanca was not oblivious to. "Oh that?" Blanca chuckled, "it was just Ash. He's trying to rush into his rehab. It's only been a week since he woke up after 5 months of comatose. He's a beast."

"How long will his rehab take?"

"The doctor said around 6 months if he keeps on working hard at it."

Yut-Lung looks down on his documents again. "Well…I'm in no rush anyway. I still have to make sure all of the Lee Group trades and establishments are back in order. We can get the Crimson Lion off our turf later."

Overwhelmed with all the document he has in front of him, Yut-Lung scratches his head with both hands while groaning loudly. Something uncharacteristic and out of character for the young triad boss who is known for his graceful poise and cool beauty. "Fuck all of these stupid paperwork" he loudly groans banging his hands on his desk, making Blanca's handwriting squiggle. "Should I call Danny?" Blanca asks. Danny, of course, pertained to the Group's trusted head secretary Danny Chua. Trained by his father's loyal secretary who had recently died, Danny was a capable young man who desperately tries not to spoil the young master by letting him do as much of the corporate paperwork as training.

Blanca tried to cover his smile. It was quite refreshing seeing their fearless young master act like a normal teenager complaining about homework.

* * *

Lau Chien was one of Yut-Lung's trusted henchmen, commander - if you'd call it that way. As an ex-police chief, One of his tasks within the organization usually includes him working on security, logistics and tactics of operation. Usually, his days would be filled with checking their establishments and planning the pursuit of anyone who attempts to do funny business deals inside their bars and clubs, raiding warehouses of their business rivals who trespass their turf, and from time to time raiding establishments that owe them money.

Tonight was a bit different though. Tonight, he was far from their Hong Kong HQ. Tonight he was in a fake taxi posing as a taxi driver somewhere in Southeast Asia, a few blocks away from Crimson Dragon's regional headquarter. Tonight's mission was to drop the boss' special spy off to his infiltration mission that might take him months - no, years to finish. It's been almost a year since the spy joined their organization and the boss seem to know of him from his time in America. Lau didn't really care who he was. As long as the boss trusted him, he would too. After all, the spy didn't seem like he had any motives or reason to betray the organization. Half of the time, he didn't even seem like he had the will to live. Honestly, he's worried that the infiltration mission will fail with a half-dead man tasked to it. But no worries, he's just another dispensable pawn in the world of mafia and the underground.

"We're here." Lau stops the car and shifted gears, "I assume you have everything you need?". He peered into the front mirror to look at the man who was pretending to hand him taxi fare. "Yeah." the spy silently said before he opened the taxi door and left with a duffel bag. He was wearing baggy denim jeans, a tank top, and his hair dyed brown and given an undercut to disguise himself. He started walking to their enemy headquarters by the docks, disguised as a fish distributing center.

Ash Ly- no…this time he's Damien Bancroft. He's posing as a naturalized American who wants to join their SE Asian office organized crime. His background was that he got engaged on some loose dark forces fixer market that sends people to work outside the country, but decided to join the Crimson Dragon's organization after hearing of the potential for more money. Greed was his biggest disguise.

It was his first infiltration mission outside America. He didn't know a lot on how Asian organizations worked but he assumed that it would have some similarities with Papa's after all, scumbags are all scumbags.

His mission was to infiltrate HQ by starting on one of their regional branches. Step one of the mission was to learn the inside and out of their operations. Step two was to earn rapport and reputation that he would get sent to work at their HQ in Shanghai. And from there learn how to destroy their operations.

It was a risky mission that would probably take him years to finish but he plans on surviving through it. He doesn't have much to live for now but to fill the gap in his heart. If he could save some children from the misery that he went through, that could give him another purpose for living.

"So you must be the foreigner that Rick said wants to join the organization." a guy in denim jacket greeted him by the garage door.

"The name's Damien" Ash puts on a smirk, "so show me where the money is."

* * *

(Present Day)

"Thank you very much." Eiji smiled at the gallery patrons who came over to shake his hand, "please enjoy the rest of the exhibit."

After his Ash Lynx exhibit, he was invited to do more exhibits about different subjects. This latest exhibit was about different high school scenes across the USA to raise awareness for teen suicide support.

HE walked around the gallery to watch the people who are strolling around the exhibit, half-hoping that no one knows that the artist is within their midst .It was a weekday a he was not scheduled to be here so he was hoping that he could just people-watch and find out what the patrons' genuine impression of his photos.

When we turned into the corner to walk into the main gallery where the primary exhibit pieces were displayed. The principal piece was a 60×12 double exposure photo of two teenagers of different backgrounds walking hand in hand. Below the display was a familiar silhouette. Eiji jogs over to the familiar man looking at his artwork intensely. It has only been less than a week since he had met this man but because of his striking good looks and elegant fashion sense, he was a hard face to forget.

"Mr. Choi, it's nice to see you here." Eiji politely bowed once he was two feet away from his acquaintance.

"Ah! It's you! Eiji, isn't it?" he flashed his pearly white teeth in a big welcoming smile that no doubt has charmed a lot of people, "and please, call me Hyun Jae, I'm not used to people calling me Mr. Choi outside work."

"Then…" Eiji smiled back. – that is…Hyun Jae's smile was infectious, "what brings you here, Hyun Jae?"

Hyun Jae made a small embarrassed chuckle, "the truth is, I left your business card in my coat pocket when I had it washed so I accidentally lost it." He scratched his cheek with his slender well-manicured finger, "I really wanted to see you but you didn't call me so I went by the exhibit when I saw your name on the sign outside the gallery."

Eiji was taken aback, he was busy this past week so he totally forgot to call him back. "I'm sorry about that, how much was the dry clean?" He started looking for his wallet only to realize that because he came here in his bike, he didn't bring his wallet – not even his subway pass. He hang his shoulders in a slump when he realized that he was missing his wallet. But even before he could tell Hyun Jae about the missing wallet, the taller man waved his hand and smiled, "How about this, Eiji? We'll call it quits if you eat lunch with me."

"I want to talk to you about business as well. I work in the gallery business and I think it'll benefit the both of us to keep in touch" Hyun Jae smiles broadly like a true business man, his English accent falling slipping from his thin lips. He reached to his inside pocket for another business card and handed it to Eiji, "I was thinking that maybe we could collaborate on an exhibit together?"

Eiji tilted his head to the side, "but from what I know doesn't Anton de Luca usually work on painting conservation and restored art works?"

Hyun Jae just looked at him, the smile frozen mid-air.

Hyun Jae's shoulders dropped, and both of his hands raised up in defeat, "you got me," he sighed. "Honestly, I just want to get your number because I really like you". His professional smile turned into a sheepish one and his presence shrunk making him look less of a posh New Yorker and more of a boy who's confessing to his childhood crush for the first time. "I just- when I saw you at Rockefeller…I uhh - I thought you were a beautiful angel and-and-I'd want to be your boyfriend-and I- I thought-I should ask you out- I mean, your number -I mean you too, but both and you…out" he stammers, quite unexpectedly.

Eiji laughs quite embarrassed too, not only because it's the first time in a while since he was confessed to, but also because he felt embarrassed for the man who was tripping over just to ask him out. Not that he was interested in a relationship right now but he found it quite adorable.

"I'm not really looking for a relationship right now," Eiji smiled gently as he turned him down, "but I can take your lunch offer if you're still up for it?"

The taller Korean man perked up, "Yes please!"

Not half an hour after that, Eiji and the Hyun Jae were walking out of the gallery and into the busy streets of New York after deciding that today would actually work for the two of them. After almost four years of living in America, Eiji had learned a penchant for trying out different international cuisine. When asked where he wanted to eat for lunch, Eiji couldn't choose so they settled on an Indian curry house to cater to both of their cravings. Hyun Jae, as Eiji learned, grew up in London so he was really fond of Indian food. He also learned that he has a brother, and he has a dorky fascination with paint pigments, and that he likes 70's and 80's music. Eiji learned that and so much more so it wasn't surprising at all that he couldn't stop talking about him when he was eating out with Sing that night in their usual deli.

"So…this was just lunch?" Sing asked before biting into his Reuben sandwich.

"Yeah," Eiji chuckles again as he poked into his shrimp avocado salad, "It's just really funny how he looks so posh and sophisticated but his character was just contradictory- he was like a boy!"

Sing hummed. He knew that Eiji tried being in relationships after Ash died- or whatever happened to him, but he's never been this vocal about learning about someone new. He knew Eiji loves Ash. He knows Ash is alive. But where is he? He kept them in the shadow for years.

He wants them together but Eiji needs to move on and be happy again. If this new stranger can make Eiji happy and help him move on from his grief, then Sing would be happy for Eiji.

"So, are you going to try and make it work with him?" he teased as he sipped his Dr. Pepper.

Eiji almost choked on his chicken pot pie.

"Sing, we only went out for lunch, you know- for that time I spilled Starbucks on his clothes."

Another teasing hum came out from Sing, "Sure Eiji. He tells you he likes you and he asks you out on a date, does his best to keep in contact and to make you like him," he glared sarcastically at Eiji, "yeah sounds like someone who just wants you to pay up for his dry cleaning,"

Eiji glared back at his friend, "well, I told him I can't commit to a relationship right now because I'm busy taking care of my cute little brother who's in college right now"

"Oho, did you now?" Sing teased back , "Eiji-nii-chan~" imitating how Akira started calling Eiji just recently. The older man gave out a hearty chuckle, "shut up!" Giving the other a playful punch on the arm.

The punch definitely didn't hurt but Sing rubbed his arm anyway. Both started laughing just being stupid boys together, tears forming in their eyes from laughing too loud, and gaining the attention of the people in the burger diner.

Eventually the laughter died down and both men fixed their seat. "Hey Eiji, me and the boys are gonna go out and drink sometime this week. You should join us. It's been a while since you last hung out with the boys." Sing pointed his thumbs backwards before putting his hands inside his blue and black bomber jacket.

"Yeah, maybe I should."

"Yeah, and tell us all about your boyfriend."

"We're not going out"

Sing raspberried starting his teasing again, "not yet."

Eiji gave another hearty laugh.

_This is good. Eiji laughing and smiling is good. Ash, Eiji is yours forever. Just let him go now and move on and let someone else make him happy._

* * *

A week after they went out for lunch, Hyun Jae and Eiji saw each other in the subway so they ended up eating late lunch together - this time they went to an Italian deli near Broadway.

Five days after that, Eiji received another invitation this time for a stroll around Manhattan after work.

The next weekend, they visited an exhibit at the MET museum and MoMA before having dinner. It was

After four days, Eiji had a photoshoot in the Bronx and Hyun Jae surprised him by stopping by with coffee and sandwiches in hand. They ate at the school yard where Eiji had been shooting photos of students for his new exhibit. Some of the teenagers who knew Eiji from his last photoshoot teased him about having a new boyfriend. Eiji denied the claims.

After three days, Sing suggested that Eiji invites him to the sushi buffet that they go to once a month. Eiji did and the three of them went to the buffet. As they were about to head to the café they usually go to afterwards for dessert, Sing dipped and told them he had to do "college stuff" leaving the two of them to the café. They stayed in the café til midnight.

After two days, Hyun Jae asked Eiji to go on a date with him for Valentines Day. Eiji didn't want to raise his hopes up so he declined the offer.

Sometime in between, Eiji finally gave him his personal phone number. Sometime in between, Sing stepped out of the way to give them some alone time. Sometime in between, they started texting more often.

Sometime in between Hyun Jae asked Eiji to go on a date with him for his colleague's wedding in two weeks. Eiji said yes. Eiji started wondering if it was okay to give him a chance. The next day they went shopping together for a wedding gift.

Valentines Day happened a week before the wedding. They didn't plan on going out. But they ended up trapped in the subway together during a heavy thunderstorm. Eiji's apartment was nearby so he invited him over to warm up and dry his clothes. They ended up watching a movie together while eating Chinese food take-out.

After his clothes have dried and the rain have stopped, Hyun Jae called for an Uber. He left just a little bit before midnight. He never contacted Eiji at all for a week.

The day of the wedding came and he came by an hour and a half earlier to pick him up. Sing noticed that Eiji perked up when he finally received a text from the taller man with who gracefully offered his arm to Eiji when he saw him waiting at the living room.

Sing had a big grin in his face when he waved them off from his window. There's still a week or so before winter ends but he could almost swear that spring is coming today as he saw Eiji take Hyun Jae's arm.

* * *

_Click click click click click_

The sound of the typing keyboard echo through the whole room. Ash had been holed up in an empty apartment in the middle of Taiwan for days. He had been trying to follow a series of pings to see where the message came from. It lead them to a suburb area just an hour or so away from the edge of Taipei. He almost pinpointed the location, he just had to find the exact building to raid.

Blanca entered the room, carrying two mugs of coffee, "You're still up?"

"I almost have it…" Ash mumbles as he skims through codes and types pass codes away in attempts to crack the ping's location's firewall.

"Well, if it's taking you this long to crack them, I guess they're really good."

Ash shushes him, "I'm almost there."

Blanca sighs and shrugs, looking at Ash's slumped back. He leaned on the wall, watching Ash's frantic and impatient work while mumbling to himself, barely audible, "I just want to blow their base and see Eiji again…"

_Click click click click click click click click click click click click click_

One final tap on the keyboard resonated in the room. Ash pumped his fist as the coordinates of the IP address finally showed on the screen. After 3 nights of cracking their firewall and VPN, they finally acquired the exact coordinates of where the message came from. Just from scouting the local area for a few days, they had some places they've been watching and suspecting. Suspicious buildings and houses with an irregular number of people coming out from it, or those with unusual activities and schedule.

When they pulled the coordinates on a satellite map, it just so happens that the building is one of the warehouse that they've been watching. Blanca whistles from behind him and gave him a pat on the back. "That's not too far from here,"

Ash grabs his gun holster from the floor just an arm away from him, and proceeded to put it on, ready to raid the place there and then. "Gather your men! Let's go!" Ash stood up and marched out of the door, Yut-Lung's grunts sitting in the living room, talking among themselves, some of them eating local street food, some playing Mahjong. When they heard Ash leave the room, they all knew that the location had been pinpointed and it was ready for some action.

The older man laughed and put his hands on both sides of Blanca's shoulders to push him down. Ash grumpily resisted but 4 days of no sleep is taking a toll on him, Blanca was able to push him down to sit down on the floor with no effort at all. "You're not going, Ash. Not with those sleepy eyes and dark circles." Blanca flicked the boy's forehead and smiled, "leave it to us for now. Go sleep." he ruffled Ash's golden hair and playfully pushes his head down. Ash grunted and tried to swat Blanca's hand away. "Fine. But I'll come over when I wake up. I wanna punch the bastard that ruined my reunion with Eiji." He walked like a zombie to the bedroom.

"Boss," one of Blanca's men hands him a folder full of files and pictures of individuals. One name in particular was highlighted, "Andy Chua?" For days now, his intelligence officers have been watching the activities of that warehouse and other potential hideouts. Blanca flips through the papers to see the daily schedule of the warehouse, a graph of hours when they're most active, and records of the warehouse manager, Andy Chua.

After some hours of preparations, they didn't lose any time for their raid. Even Ash was fully awake by now despite the fact that he's only had 5 hours of sleep. Their strategy was simple. Some of Blanca and two if his trained snipers set themselves up around the warehouse, a big group will attack from the front led by Blanca's right-hand man, while Ash would be attacking from the back in pursuit of Andy Chua. Ash had to ride a small boat down the river to reach the back wall of the hideout that sits close to its bank, scale the 20-foot wall and silently parkour down to reach the back door. Ash, Blanca and his right-hand man, would be in constant communication through a small transmitter ear bud. As for the security camera, Ash already hacked through it and looped the video.

The sniping team, armed with silencers, brings down some of the sentinels and guards who are either stationed in makeshift watch towers, or patrol around the perimeter of the walled warehouse

"Wiped out, Chen," Blanca talks on the transmitter giving the front raid the go signal to go in, "I'm going in after you."

Chen, a naturally quiet man nods and grunts in acknowledgment. He comes over to the gate alone and knocks, on the metal gate. "Hey, your shipment's here". He could hear some groggy sluggish footprints opening the metal gate, "what do you mean shipment - we're not expe-!" the gate-keeper didn't even get to finish his sentence. In a quick second, Chen kicked the gate to knock the gate-keeper out cold. A few quick glances around the gate and he signals to his men to come in. Around ten of his men jumped in to attack. The young Chinese triad member talked into the communicator, "Ash, we're in."

Inside the warehouse were crates and boxes of unknown content towering on every corner. There were some armed people inside who were soon taken down by Chen and his men. Just in time as the main storeroom is clear he waved his tucked his fingers together and waved it up and sideways, a signal to disperse in pairs and look for traps and other people. In the meantime, Ash sneaked inside the inner storage rooms and offices, looking for the head honcho running the place.

Ash inspected 3 smaller storage rooms, an infirmary, a small crate of weapons, and an empty office room. It seemed like most of the guards and henchmen ran to attack up front since Ash only had to take down a couple of armed men. All of a sudden, an explosion was heard from the main store room, then succeeded by the rapid fire of what sounded like machine guns.

"Chen, what's going on in there?" Ash talked through the three-way intercom

"Some men came out with grenades and machine guns." Chen answers as he dodges the enemy attacks, the whizzing sounds of bullet audible to Ash's ears across the transmitter. Chen hides behind a big crate of cargo to reload his magnum pistols, wielded on both hands.

Ash started looking for trap doors or secret passages on the walls or a way to get into the vents where they could have escaped. He went back to inspect the rooms including the freezer storage. That was when he saw a ceiling hinged attic door. "Bingo." Ash smiled and waited no time to climb up, "Blanca, I saw a hidden door in the freezer. I'm going in."

The ceiling door led to a narrow passage leading to a safe room. He sneaked in to see what was happening inside the safe room. Two armed men were standing to guard the entrance to the safe room, meanwhile a stocky older man was wearing a suit, facing safe keypad and inputting numbers. "Blanca, Chen, I've located Andy Chua." Ash talks on the communicator.

"Chen, how are things on your side?"

"I think we wiped them all here in the storehouse." Chen replies although his voice sounded unsure, "something is definitely weird…we opened some of the boxes and cargo." he slashes through a bag. "Most of the cargo are full of weed and low quality drugs."

He sneaked at through the corridor, laying his back flat against the wall. Ash could hear Chua bark orders to another henchman, "just stuff all of those in the bag!" Once he confirmed that the safe and its contents are inside the bag, Ash pivots his leg to face the door, his arm extended to shoot his magnum fast enough to beat the armed guards. It didn't take him too long before it was just Chua left in the room clutching the green duffle bag in his arms. He reached over to grab a gun on the floor but Ash shoots a hole through his palm. Chua shrieks from the pain.

Smug and arrogant despite being shot on his right hand, Chua sneers at Ash, "I know who you are you Lee Group bastard," he glares at Ash, "the White Snake, Ash Lynx, alias Damien Bancroft."

Ash gritted his teeth and fired another shot on the floor right next to Chua's foot, Chua flinched, obviously scared and feigning arrogance. "Well since you already know who I am, I'll give you two choices: give me that bag and tell me who you work for and have a chance to escape, or resist and die." Ash looks at him square in the eyes and points his gun squarely towards Andy's forehead.

"Don't kill him Ash," Blanca shouts at him through the intercom, "I'm coming over to where you are Ash."

Despite clearly looking scared, the older honcho looked arrogantly at the younger Ash, "you need to be more in control of your emotions, boy." Chua sweats buckets and looks around for something he can use as a weapon, "my men will be here soon and kill you Ash Lynx." Ash talks to the communicator, making sure that Chua can hear the conversation, "How many are left Chen?"

"They're all wiped out big brother." Chen answers stoically, audible enough for the head honcho to hear him. A calm baritone voice came from behind Ash, it was Blanca. "Chen, I'm with Ash, lead the men to escape back to our rendezvous point."

"You're too desperate for some intel." Andy smiles a crooked smile, his fake gold molars peeking on the sight. Blanca tightens his lips in skepticism. Chua all of a sudden jerked forward to the keypad again and pressed an a series of buttons. Ash pulled the trigger to try to stop him but he was too late. They weren't expecting that he would go back to the keypad. Ash steadies himself as the small room rocks, a tight bellowing comes from below them followed by sounds of explosions. "Sir! They're bombing their own hideout!" Chen shouts over the explosions on the communicator. Blanca grits his teeth.

Blanca peers down the narrow hallway, looking for an escape route for the three of them, only to find out that the only way out was to go back to where they came from in the ceiling hinged door. "We don't have much time Ash, we need to escape soon."

Ash clicks his tongue, "You better start talking you fat pig. Who is your boss? Where is your HQ?" Ash shoots him in the leg. Forcing him to drop to the ground. "Next one will be in your head, if you don't start talking." Quivering, Chua chokes out and throws the bag towards Ash's direction, "I don't know. I swear, I don't know! No one does! I just know that people call him Mr. Park! I-I've never seen him! He liaisons with us through his right hand man and we have no idea who he is."

Satisfied with the information he got he walks to Chua and grabbed the bag the door to meet Blanca, "let's go Blanca, he has nothing more to say." The two of them escape through the narrow corridor. "Wait! I can't walk!" Chua's screams can be heard from the behind them.

Once they got down from the hinged ceiling, they realized how much the warehouse is burning. It hasn't reached the back rooms yet but they could feel the temperature rising and the flaring red light coming from the storage rooms. Blanca could only hope that their men were able to escape back to their rendezvous spot. "Chen," Blanca called through the communicator as they maneuvered themselves through the hallways.

There was a long pause. "Chen?" It wasn't long until he heard a scratchy muffled reply from Chen. They only hope that the reason for the delay was because the signals were being intercepted by the trees and buildings.

The two of them hurried out the back door where Ash and his unit previously entered from. "Big brother," Chen replies, "everyone was able to retreat."

"Good. We'll see you there in a few"

"Be careful, big bro," Chen's voice had always been stoic and calm but this voice had more of a wary tone to it, "as we were escaping through the back roads, we saw the Strips and the firefighters on their way to the warehouse." Blanca audibly nodded to show his thanks to his right hand man. The cold night air mixed with the heavy smoke from the warehouse hit them in the face. The heavy sound of sirens can be heard from outside the concrete walls of the warehouse. Muffle shouts coming from megaphones are coming from the other side of the wall.

Ash can't speak Mandarin but he can tell that it the shouting from the megaphones are from the police officers who has finally arrived at the scene. "What are they saying?" Ash asks Blanca who was more fluent in Mandarin and Cantonese. "They said they have the perimeter of the warehouse surrounded."

Realizing that they can't exit from the front gate, they tried to look for a way out. They sneaked into a separate building outside the main warehouse, to a building that looked more like a garage, to see if there's a vehicle that they can use to escape. Instead of seeing an escape vehicle parked in the garage, there were 3 police cars and several police officers waiting to arrest them.

"Oh shit," Ash cursed under his breath when he noticed that the police officers saw him. There's aren't that much space within the confined walled around the perimeter of the storage warehouse to run. A couple of police men ran after them shouting in Cantonese to make them drop their weapons and surrender. A warning shot was fired at first but since they didn't stop running away, they started an open fire attack forcing Ash and Blanca to run for cover. Ash was about to aim and shoot one of them down but Blanca stopped him, "Stop Ash, you can't involve the Taiwanese government in this. If you kill an officer, you'll just make it harder for us to hunt for the Crimson." Ash clicked his tongue and missed his aim intentionally- instead shooting for their gun to flick it away. After a few shots, the magnum he was holding clicked from running out of bullets. Ash turned to Blanca to ask him if he had any ammo with him but the older man shook his head. Both of them were out of firepower.

Ash looked around to scout where they ran for cover while Blanca sat down on the concrete floor. They ran through a tight alley way in between two smaller storage buildings. In front of them was the narrow entrance to the alley, to their back was 20 feet the rear wall by the river bank. Ash grabs a handful of his hair so we can think on how to climb the buildings on either side. There were two smaller windows on the building to their left, around 12 feet from the ground. They could hide there but they would just be trapping themselves inside a storage room. Another option was to hide among the junk lying around the alley but because the police knew where they are, they Blanca chuckled, "if only we could fly over the wall."

Ash looks around for some notches on the wall to use as grips or piles of junk that he could climb on top of, but most of the trash around them are just bagged household and office trash some metal pipes and fixtures and other construction junk, the biggest one he can climb on is a 4ft plastic trash bin. There were bags of cement on the floor but not enough to pile them on top of each other.

"Come on Blanca, get up and help me out here." Ash rummages around the ground to look for something to use to escape. He looked up the wall again, "Hmm…if only we could fly or something we could escape through the riv-" Ash's eyes bolted open as he remembered something from his past.

_Eiji! A memory of Eiji came back! I remember being shot and he used a pipe to jump over the wall!_

Giddy with his recollection, he grabbed two long pipes from under a rubble, they looked a bit old and fragile but he decided the pipes were strong enough for a one-time thing. He turned to look behind him to show Blanca his plan, expecting him to be impressed at his younger apprentice-turned-partner. But when he turned around, he saw Blanca on top of the rubble of the floor, his left hand over his right side oozing with blood, his right hand trying to prop himself up. His left thigh soaked with blood.

"Sorry kid, I think you'll have to leave me here for now. My stitches opened up and I got shot on the leg."

"NO WAY!" Ash dropped the pipe and went to help prop Blanca up, "Yut-Lung will kill me if I leave you here to get arrested!" As much as he didn't want to admit it, Blanca after all, was the closest thing to a brother to him.

Heavy footsteps can be heard outside the narrow passage leading to where they are. The police were shouting in thick accented English, "Stop, you're under arrest!"

"Go, Ash. They don't know who I am but they know who you are. If you get arrested, you might as well say goodbye to Eiji" Blanca used his last strength to push Ash away. "Besides, you'll come back for me, right?"

Ash's pale hands gripped the pipe and nodded. "I'll round the men up and get you back."

He placed the bag on his right shoulder, grabbed the pipe and closed his eyes, trying to remember hard Eiji's form, every curve of his muscle to try and remember how he flew over the wall that day. He stepped back to gauge where the pipe end would go. The police shouts closing in on him.

Three…

Two…

One…

Ash ran calculated quick steps and landed the end of the pipe on a spot on the ground, pushing it down to give him momentum to jump over. It didn't give him enough to go over the twenty feet wall but enough to give him enough lift to claw the edge of the wall, jump over the wall and hide under the shadows of the river current.

_I'll come back for you Blanca…I know that just as how I special Eiji is to me…well, we both have homes to come home to now…_

* * *

"Xiao Ya told her daddy, "Papa, your moon cakes are the best in the world!" Yut-Lung says in a makes a thumbs up gesture with his right hand, his left hand was wrapped around the young boy tucked close to the mafia boss's side. The young boy sitting next to him on the bed, Tieu was holding the spread of the picture book open while his legs were warm under the thick blanket. His eyes were focused on reading and taking in informataion from the colorful bi-lingual children's book about a young girl making moon cakes with her dad.

Despite being almost 8 years old, he is still learning how to read and write. It took him a while after he was adopted by Blanca two years ago before he even started talking. Granted, Chinese wasn't his first language, but even so. Blanca saw something special in the child and took him in, now the child lives in Yut-Lung's residence, being trained in English, Mandarin and Cantonese, and this year, he will start his formal home-schooled education in math and sciences, and martial arts.

Blanca tucks him to bed every time he's at home. Often reading him a bedtime stories either from made-up stories or children's books. But because Blanca is away on a mission with Ash right now, Yut-Lung made it his job to personally tuck the boy in.

"Xiao Ya's papa is good at making moon cakes." Tieu mumbles after Yut-Lung read the phrase. "Mister-My father, does he make moon cakes too?" Yut-Lung was stopped in his tracks as he was about to flip the page. Blanca can't make moon cakes. In fact, as much as he is skilled he is with his hands, he is terribly bad at cooking. The most he could do is fry an egg and press the rice cooker power button. Blanca can kill someone without leaving a hint that it was him. Blanca can precisely shoot something from a far distance. He can make bombs from items you can easily find around the home. He can identify poisons and is immune to a lot of them. He's a polyglot who can converse in different languages. Blanca can survive in the most dire situations. He can infiltrate and raid an enemy base on his own. He knows all that but Yut-Lung can't really say that in front of the kid as much as he probably would find it exciting to know. Blanca and him agreed that they want to raise Tieu in a way that will not estrange him to 'normal' society. So that he can turn back from the underground and the crime world if he chooses to. Knowing that, it's probably too early of him to know exactly what Blanca does.

"Hmm…Tieu's papa is strong." Yut-Lung looks at the boy and smiles, "he saves the helpless, and he is loyal to his friends."

He remembers the call he received just less than an hour ago.

_"…He was captured Yut-Lung."_

_"I'll kill you Ash!"_

_"He was injured Yut-Lung! I tried to take him with me but we were corne-"_

_"FUCK YOU ASH!"_

_"I know how you feel Yut-Lung, I'll get him back…" Ash's voice becomes tender, perhaps out of genuine concern for Blanca, or perhaps out of empathy - after all, he knows how it feels when your loved one is taken away from you. "Give me 2 days, I'll take him back."_

Yut-Lung feels a sharp clench in his chest. Even now, he doesn't trust Ash entirely but for Blanca, he would.

"Yut-Lung?"

He snapped out of his worried thoughts. Tieu was peering up at him. Small gentle hands on both sides of his face. "Are you worried about Mister Blanca?" Even though he was still a kid, Tieu had a good idea of what the ugly side of the world looks like. He doesn't know all the details but he knows that he is growing up in a dangerous environment. He can tell from the heavy expressions of the people his adopted family has that they are working in an environment that involves life and death decisions every day.

Despite how much Yut-Lung tried to look strong and unmoved when he got the call, especially as he was with his men and subordinates, the dam walls broke with just one tender hold from Blanca's adopted son. He started tearing. All he could do was to grab Tieu by the shoulders and wrap his arms around him.

"He'll be fine.. .Ash said he'll be fine." Yut-Lung whispered softly over and over. It wasn't for Tieu. He knows full well that the words were reassurance for himself.

Tieu let his hand drop down on Yut-Lung's shirt, his tiny hands gripping the cloth as he whispered low intending only for himself but Yut-Lung heard it nonetheless, "...I hate Ash."

* * *

Eiji looked around the restaurant he was taken to. There were 5 round tables beyond the foyer where the attendant stands to sit customers. He could see more semi-private seating along the far wall and the wall-length glass panes of the window, overlooking a nice city view of the Manhattan. A fancy looking bar sits by the wall. A smaller cozy dance floor sits in the middle of the elegantly polished wooden floor, an equally elegant chandelier hangs over it, dimmed and comfortable.

He looked down on what he was wearing, he was wearing a simple pair of slacks, a sweater over his plain white collared shirt. Good thing he decided to at least wear his less-casual oxfords today instead of wearing his usual casual boat shoes.

"Hyun Jae…are you sure we're in the right place?"

The latter gentleman looked at him as the attendant was leading them to their seats, a cozy seating nook with a really nice city view. "Oh yeah, this is my friend's restaurant that I was telling you about."

He was invited here to talk about the prospects of Hyun Jae's gallery to hold an exhibit with Eiji. While the conversation started with that as the topic, it eventually shifted to a more friendly, casual topic about the possibilities of working together and maybe getting the restaurant to serve the exhibit opening. hors d'oeuvre. Soon, they also noticed that it was getting harder and harder to talk over the live music that started playing in the background.

"Excuse me, can we have another bottle of Chardonnay please?" Hyun Jae notions to an elderly waiter (or was it a sommelier? Eiji can't tell) who silently and politely bows before going to the cellar.

"Once you're done with the main course, I can call for the dessert menu and we can sample some of their desserts," Hyun Jae rested his cheek on his palm, his eyes gleaming and sparkling at Eiji sitting across the table, "I really love their caramel pecan souffle and their tiramisu"

Eiji smiles back, although his is more polite than the affectionate smile that the handsome gentleman across the table is giving him. "Hyun Jae,…" Eiji twiddles with his thumbs. As comfortable the place is or how delicious the food were, there was a queasy feeling in his guts. "I get this feeling that this isn't just a business meeting. I'm aware that we've been getting frie-" Eiji starts explaining but he stopped when he saw that Hyun Jae was beet red in front of him, one hand shyly covering half of his face and the other hand extending towards Eiji as if to give him a second.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable," Hyun Jae scratched the back of his neck, "I just really want to take you out on a date but I wasn't sure if you would accept if I blatantly called it a date."

_Gap moe. _That was what Eiji remembered Akira calling this - whatever this is. Hyun Jae acts and looks really sophisticated and mature but who would've though that when he gets flustered and embarrassed, instead of the mature adult, in front of him was a beet-red boy-man acting like a teenager on his first date. Cute, Eiji thought.

Before Eiji could start talking again, the sommelier came with a bottle of expensive Chardonnay and started pouring some for the two of them. The silent between them just made the sounds around them louder and louder. The soft clattering of the cutlery against the plates, the soft giggling and talking of the people, the applause of the people and the silence on the stage. "This next song, we invite you love birds to take the dance floor," the crooner softly invited the customers before starting a soft ballad about dancing

Hyun Jae stood up and walks towards Eiji's seat. He extends out a hand to his date, "can I ask you for this dance, Eiji?"

Reluctant and shy Eiji held back his hand but there was something about Hyun Jae's endearing determination that made it hard for him to say no. He extended his right hand and followed Hyun Jae to the dance floor. To be honest, he is reluctant partly because as much as it is normal for New York to be accepting with LGBT couples, he just didn't grow up in a similar society. Regardless of how gay lovers are common in Japan, it's not out in the open. Eiji was reluctant because they were both men, but Hyun Jae doesn't seem to mind, nor do the other people inside the restaurant so it's okay for him now too.

Hyun Jae's right hand holds Eiji's left hand. He can tell that Eiji is a bit lost so he guided Eiji's right hand to curve over his shoulder and hold on to his side almost below his scapula, while he mirrored the same and tucked his hold in the hollow of Eiji's back. The position just naturally pushed their bodies together in an embrace. They dance was less of a waltz and more of them swaying together, encouraging them to inch closer and closer.

The two of them were swaying to the gentle melody, slightly off-beat but on moments like this, who cares, really? Both of their hands gripping each other, thumbs caressing the skin they're in contact with. Hyun Jae never took his eyes off Eiji, studying every movement his partner makes, trying to make him feel more relaxed. Trying to close the gap between them, Hyun Jae leaned closer until he could feel Eiji's breath on him, he used the hand on Eiji's scapula to push him slightly as an encouragement for him to lean forward into him more. Eiji awkwardly shifted his head down, his fingers subtly tightening its hold to Hyun Jae's.

"What's wrong Eiji?"

"It's just that…" Eiji started but couldn't continue. He was about to say "we're both men" but he knew that wasn't the real reason of his uneasiness. He didn't know what was wrong. There was nothing wrong with dancing with Hyun Jae. Eiji thinks he's a decent, nice gentleman. They're friends - and if Eiji were to be honest, he can tell that their relationship is marching towards a "more than friends" situation.

_Ash_

Eiji stops and grips Hyun Jae harder before pulling his hands away and putting them on the space between the two of them.

Dancing is very intimate and all the intimacy he shared with Ash came pouring in his head. Ash. His memories of Ash. His bravery and vulnerable heart. His lion-hearted spirit and leadership. His wit and unorthodox strategies. His beautiful heart hidden in the fragile shell of a young boy who had to grow up fast. His tenacity against hardships. His childishness and banters. His love. Their love and the memories of that lost love felt like lead that he knows he needs to let go off but for some reason, his very being is holding on to.

"Sorry," Eiji puts his forehead to his hands that are resting on Hyun Jae's chest, "can you take me home soon?" Hyun Jae smiles and initially goes for a kiss but instead wraps his arms around Eiji. "Just as long as you tell me about it when you're comfortable to talk about it, okay?" he smiles into Eiji's hair and gave him one last squeeze before letting him go.

* * *

"Oh hey, you're back" Sing smiles as Eiji enters the apartment, Sing was on the living room coffee table, no doubt working on school work, just as he usually does whenever he comes over to Eiji's. Despite being the a college student, Sing's fancy Long Island condominium felt empty and rigid and uncomfortable for him, so whenever he has to focus on heavy school work where his men can't just barge in with a petty, "boss, we spotted this gang in our turf" or "boss, I heard that so-and-so of this gang was saying this about so-and-so from our gang" or something like that, he would always retreat to Eiji's Manhattan apartment where he can relax. He can let his men handle that. At least in Eiji's apartment, he can find peace enough to work on schoolwork. After all, none of the gangs dared to touch Eiji. Unknown to the person himself, Eiji has had a reputation to be an untouchable person in New York - lest you want the wrath of Chinatown, or Ash's old gang or even the ghost of Ash Lynx to haunt you in your dreams.

Sing was sitting on the living room floor, in the midst of strewn papers and reference books. "I made coffee" he pointed to the French press sitting on top of the coffee table, "how did you business meeting go?" Eiji wasn't saying anything. He just came inside the apartment and greeted Buddy who came running to meet him at the door.

"Did something happen in the car? During your business meeting?" Sing requires as Eiji headed to the couch, Buddy still trailing behind him. "What do you mean?" Eiji grabs a throw pillow and hugs it to his chest.

"Well, you're still red and blushing." Sing smirked at him mischievously. "Looks to me like it was more of a date than a business meeting."

Eiji grabbed the throw people and tossed it up to catch it in his arms and burrow his head into the pillow. As much as he wants to keep his thoughts and feelings as private as possible, Sing is his closest friend now and the only one he feels comfortable enough to tell his romantic endeavors about. " -dropped me off…" Eiji's muffled mumbles were barely audible through the material of the throw people.

"What did you say?" Sing stood up to sit at the couch, intrigued and nosy.

Eiji buried is face deeper into the pillow, "he kissed me when he dropped me off."

Sing whistles.

"I don't know Sing….should I give him a chance? Should I give us a chance?" Eiji crosses his arms on top of the throw pillow and he rests his head on it, his face looking at Sing for affirmation.

"Remember that one time when Akira-chan came to visit? You told me to be move on and be happy." Eiji whispered while his right hand reaches for the back of his head, slightly tugging on his loose ponytail. "I think I'm ready to take a chance at it."

Sing didn't say anything but just smiled at his friend.

Eiji took that as a sign that Sing was supportive of anything as long as it would make Eiji happy. Ash and Hyun Jae were two very different people, he knows that. But out of all the people he met after Ash died, no one had been as promising as a lover as the British-Korean man he had met just a month or so ago. Of course, it wasn't as if he would stop loving Ash - he's convinced he can never stop loving Ash. It's just that, it's time to move one and give loving someone else a chance. Maybe in time, he could learn to hurt less in reminiscing about Ash. After all, he was positive that Ash wouldn't want him sad this long - that Ash would want him to live life happy.

So that's what he did. Eiji chose to give them - him and Hyun Jae a chance.

Hyun Jae hugged him there and then, inside the café where they met up for lunch. It was a bit messy when he grabbed on and wrapped his arms around Eiji who was sitting next to him. Hyun Jae's half-finished cup of tea spilled over to his shirt, and Eiji's sleeve accidentally touched the pasta sauce from the spaghetti that they ordered for lunch. Hyun Jae was tearing up because all his courting had finally bore fruit. People were staring out of curiosity but they didn't care.

After they let go, they were laughing and they were trying to wipe the table. Hyun Jae was chuckling at his own carelessness. He stood up, with tears in his eyes but with a huge grin in his face. He grabbed some napkins and clumsily tried to damp his spilled tea. "I think I need to clean this up before it dries off" he told Eiji who just laughed at him, nodding in approval. Hyun Jae dipped his head down to give Eiji a quick peck on the forehead before walking to the restroom. People were smiling, clapping - cheering for them, regardless of what they know of what happened.

Eiji rubbed his shoulder and smiled. _This feels nice._ He hummed to himself while he played with his pony tail, "I guess it's time for a hair cut."

* * *

_Secured first phase of mission._


	5. Chapter 5: Flashback

"Hey Boss, this is the guy we were talking to you about, Damien. We scouted him around the clubs in Manila. People say he's notorious with pimping classy prostitutes. He's the man for the job." the man who was pointing at Ash was a stranger who he had only talked briefly.

Ash didn't know exactly how Yut-Lung was able to weave a backstory for his alias. His own theory was there's an actual American pimp who used to walk the streets of Manila. He was probably really notorious but Chinatown probably had to dispose of him. Whatever. It wasn't important for his job right now. All pimps are scum regardless of where they are pimping at. This Damien Bancroft alias guy is now him. He had to pretend to be a scum-of-the-earth pimp who wants to climb the ladder of the Asian organized crime world. He didn't know how long he'll have to be Yut-Lung's spy and marionette.

"Yeah, been pimping since I was 12," Ash smirked at the regional boss. That was a lie. He was the one getting sold and pimped to different men. "Manila was a good spot to farm. Easy cash with all them desperate bitches and all those horny foreigners coming in. Been there for a few years now." More lies. He's only been to the Philippines once. He had to go to Chinatown with Yut-Lung during his rehabilitation. He thought that it was a good idea to walk along the streets of the city too, as research for his spy work.

Then regional boss, who he researched to be a guy named Peter Trahn was a Vietnamese-Cambodian guy who just oozes out organized crime social-climber vibes. He was wearing a suit, a golden chain across his suit tie, a golden false tooth to replace an incisor, his balding head in a combed over pompadour, and thick golden rings on these fingers.

It wasn't long until he got the hang of pretending to be genuinely part of the gang. His job as Damien Bancroft was to talk to slave markets and rich perverts from China, America, and even Europe who are looking for sex slaves, brides, and mistresses, sex workers, or whatever perverted object they want those kids objectified into. Their victim comes from all over Asia: China, Cambodia, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, India. Depending on how much the client is willing to pay, they can even groom merchandise and break them into beautiful, soulless dolls that will obey everything their masters want. It's a big international crime ring that would make a big global sensation if exposed. His job for Yut-Lung was to reach the top of the ladder and know how to attack the big wigs to throw down the Crimson Lions to destroy their monopoly in Asia. For a long time now, the Crimson Lions held the embezzlement and casino monopoly in Southeast Asia. Trades that Lee Yut-Lung wants to tap into to further build the Lee Group empire.

Ash was Damien Bancroft. And he was doing this for the Lee Group - no, that's not right. He was doing this for the big gaping hole in his heart. For something that's missing in there. He has no idea what it is, but he knows it's real and fucking painful. It's a pain that lets him push through. It's a pain that makes him feel like he's being ripped open. It's a pain that makes him feel invincible, makes him feel hopeful that maybe, maybe beyond this dark tunnel, there is a reason for living.

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU BITCH!" Ash heard a shout and some loud voices in the corner where the trafficking victims were being kept. Ash who was checking the list of clients that their next shipment would go to, came rushing to check the commotion. What he saw was something he was used to seeing but being on the criminal side made his guts turn inside out. On the floor was a young teenager naked from the waist down, his long black hair unkempt and strewn across the floor. Bruises covered her legs, knees, and elbows. On her cheeks and neck were red marks of abuse. Blood was gushing out from her chest where one of the lackeys probably used a knife to open her shirt

Two lackeys were standing there hovering above the half-dead body of the girl. One of the lackeys who saw Ash chuckled, "heh, the bitch won't shut up and let me have her quietly. She kept on fighting back."

Ash's blood boiled and took his gun from his belt holster and shot the lackey in the right shoulder, right where the pectoral muscle started, for maximum pain with less possibility of death.

"What the fuck, man?" The other one screamed at Ash while the other one grasped his right shoulder to try and stop the bleeding. Ash glared at them cold-bloodedly. "Who said that you could dirty our goods? Do you think you deserve to touch the goods that our clients pay millions for? Fuck off before I shoot you too."

Ash raises his gun again and aims at the other man. The two thugs cowardly ran away.

The rest of their prisoners that witnessed the whole scene cowered inside the cell, huddled together the older girls cradling the younger ones. Eyes full of fear and hopelessness.

Ash kicks the cell door open to let the other abducted victims rescue the raped young lady. No one came forward except for a young boy probably around the age of 5 or 6 who tried to cover the lady's body with his lithe body. "Big sis!" He cries. The young woman weakly tried to raise his hand to calm him down. "I-I'm fine. Can you help me inside so I can rest?" The young boy smiled while his small frame tried to find a way to drag her inside. The other women inside the cell started sucking up their fear and scurried outside to help the young boy carry the injured inside. The boy eventually stood up but when he did, he immediately glared angrily at Ash - at their warden and prisoner, Damien.

That's right. Get angry. Let your blood boil so much that you're willing to do everything to free yourself. Accept the fact that you're weak and that you need to be willing to dirty your hands in order to protect those important to you. You have to be willing to die and sell your soul to the devil.

Ash smirked at him and crouched down to the young kid's level. "You're the only one standing before this hell and your freedom. It's a dog-eats-dog world kid. You need to stop being weak in order to survive." He tousled the boy's hair before the boy came inside the cell still angrily glaring at Ash

The most that he could do to help the victims was to make sure they eat good and they are not hurt by the other thugs so to see that some still get attacked like this makes him angry. Ash grabs a walkie talkie from his belt holster and talks into it, "Yo, Damien here, Vandy and Duong were touching my goods. Make sure they pay for what they did. Clean up after your dogs you son of a bitch." Ash talks to one of the other group Lieutenants who are over the thugs who collect or abducts their goods. He peeks in the cell, feels bad for the lady who was raped and injured. With her injuries and scars, there would be no much use for her. In a few days, she will just be an extra mouth to feed but have no market value. Sooner or later, the big guns would probably just order him to get rid of her.

Hopefully, by then she would have recovered enough to survive on her own.

Sir, please help. Don't hurt me. Please.

Mama! Where is my mama?

Help!

I want to go home…

Just kill me.

Please give me a knife. I just want to die.

I don't even care anymore…

Ash snaps out of his nightmares. Years being in undercover as a human trafficker meant that he had to listen to the cries of the children and women twenty-four seven, forcing him to revisit horrible memories of being abused and raped and sold to old perverts-men and women alike, as a young boy and teenager. Everytime they ship out victims his heart winces and hurts. The only thing he could do is to give a silent prayer in his head, hoping that those victims either escape eventually, adapt to the situation - or die painlessly.

Today though was a bit of a change of pace for him. Being American, the Crimson Lion boss thought it would be good to take him with their "market research" - looking for bars, prostitution clubs and sex businesses or anyone who could be potential clients for their human trafficking business. But even if he's away from the cells and the cries, the anguish voices still echoed in his head, despite whatever he tried to do.

"What's wrong?" the naked lady lying next to him with her arm around his torso asked with a concerned look on her face. She was one of the ladies the group trafficked from Asia, groomed to be a masseuse-sex worker. The Crimson Lion bosses often go to bars and brothels It didn't take it long enough until this too was something Ash would do to keep his cover. Crimson Lion brothels in America were scattered across New York City, particularly in Queens. The one they were in right now was in Flushings, a scanty-looking brothel disguised as a massage spa. He dreaded it. Because every time he held someone in his arms, it felt lonely and hollow and he knows that the underlying meaning withholding a prostitute in your hand, it's not about getting laid. Ash knew more than anyone, that it's about the weak trying to feel powerful by hurting someone weaker than he is.

The prostitute wrapped her legs around Ash's lower body, closing the gap between their lower bodies, rubbing herself against Ash's jeans. Ash winced and closed his eyes. "I'm okay," he said as he sat up,. He felt bad for the prostitute. Ut's not her fault. It's nobody's fault. If only there was something or someone he could blame. He pulled his shirt over his head to put it on and stood up to leave the motel room that smelled of tobacco, bleach, and sex.

What even am I doing here for? I'm just turning more and more into a monster. Haha. Ash chuckles inwardly, only audible to himself. I've been a monster for a very long time. I've sold my soul- there's nothing left of me. Just an empty shell. Yut-Lung and Blanca should've just minded their business and let me die.

"Haha Damien, what's up, can't get it up?" a lackey jeered as he was seen exiting the building. "Nah dude," Ash smirks, "I'm so done with these sluts. They disgust me. I need some fresh air." Ash spit on the ground next to him before walking away from the brothel and hitched a ride from a passing truck by holding on to a bar that was sticking out from the cargo door. The truck started heading towards the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Perfect. He didn't have any particular destination in mind but it would be nice to go somewhere more familiar. Somewhere he can forget about all the inhumane crimes he has been involved in. Somewhere he can escape the will to just escape and shoot himself. Ash adjusted his thick muffler on top of his bomber jacket and his cap that covered his chestnut-dyed hair that he had in a short cut. When he got off on the other side of the Williamsburg Bridge, he jumped off and shook off some mist that formed on his clothes.

He put his hands in his pocket in an attempt to keep them warm and started walking towards busier streets closer to his old turf - Manhattan. Memories that were starting to come back these past 3 years. Two years' worth of memories with his gang, Skip, Shorter, Sing Soo-Ling, how they chased after Banana Fish and Papa Dino's schemes, how they got tangled with Yut-Lung - memories of those times became more and more solid throughout the years. Except for something - someone. Every time this person was in his memories, they were blacked out and scratched out. Every time their name was mentioned, he could hear a ringing beep almost like TV static. It would make his head hurt every time he tried to remember that person but there's a longing in him that makes him want to learn more.

It doesn't take a lot of self-reflection to admit that the only reasons why he still has the will to get up every day are to destroy the Crimson Lion's human trafficking ring and to fill the gap in his heart with the identity of the mysterious person in his memory.

Wanting to avoid Chinatown where Sing and his men would be on the prowl, he started walking northwards towards the East Village, not really having anywhere to go. It wasn't until it started raining that he figured he'd stop and take shelter. After all, he wanted to blend in with the crowd of the neighborhood and normally people wouldn't walk in a heavy downpour. He looked around the brick apartment buildings flanking him let and right. He figured the quickest shelter he can get was under an arch of a shop door. The one he happened to take shelter in was a Yiddish bagel shop that had already closed for the night.

Not a lot of people are in the rain at this time of the night. Ash could hear some distant conversations from the apartment buildings, distant sirens filtered out by the sound of the pouring rain and the small whimpers coming from the trash bin across the street. The small cries of the creature caught his attention. There was a dirty puppy taking shelter under the roughly strewn trash bags in front of an apartment complex. The puppy was covered in grime and mud and no collar but despite that, he could tell that it was at least healthy-looking. Someone probably moved away and didn't want to take their puppy away with them. The puppy and he met gazes and the puppy immediately wagged his tail, as if inviting Ash to come get him. He felt bad about the puppy but there was nothing he could do.

You're on your own pup. No one can save you. You have to learn how to fend for yourself if you want to survive this harsh city.

Ash stood there, leaning his body weight into the arch, wanting to leave the pup alone but curious nonetheless of what would happen to the helpless little creature. A bus stopped a few blocks from where he was taking shelter and several people got off, either opening their umbrellas to shield from the rain or pulled up their hoodies to at least cover their heads. None of the people stopped to even bat an eyelid at the helpless puppy.

See? Told you so. Even if you cry out for someone to save you there's no o-

As if it could hear Ash's thoughts, the puppy let out a louder whimper of desperation.

One of the people who got off from the bus stopped in their tracks and turned around to look at the pup's direction. Despite the shoulder-length hair, Ash can tell that it was an Asian man who looked like he was someone in his late teens, he was holding shopping bags on one hand, and a blue umbrella on the other, while a couple other paper bags sit on the crook where his two arms form a cradle in front of him. He shuffled his bags around as he tried to make space for the tiny creature his eyes spotted under the pile of trash. The young man crouched down to pick the puppy up who didn't waste any time in showing gratitude by licking his rescuer's jaw, making some of the paper bags drop on the puddle under him. Despite dropping half his load the man didn't look displeased at all, instead, he was cradling the puppy back, "You can come live with me…Buddy."

Would you look at that. Ash smirks to himself. Good for you pup. At least one of us gets saved.

Ash was ready to leave knowing that someone at least got interested in the puppy. But for some reasons, he couldn't take his eyes away from the young man. The young man's looks weren't that unusually beautiful nor was his ordinary clothes and tacky old coat flattering for his lankier figure. No. It was something else - his eyes that were strong and gentle at the same time. His hand reached out to someone desperately looking for love. His heart burns courage and -. His heart? What do I know about his heart?

Ash's thoughts stopped when another taller Asian man started jogging towards the puppy rescuer. "Oi Eiji, I told you to text me when your bus arrives so I can help you carry- hey, are you picking that pup up? You know your landlady doesn't let pets in." For some reasons, Ash could recognize the taller Asian man who was now carrying the bulk of the grocery bags. Sing Soo-Ling! That's Sing! He looks grown-up, but that's him!

Wait! The other guy. Would he have known who the other guy is? So then…the other guy…that's- Ash couldn't stop fixing his eyes at the man carrying the dog. He couldn't spit out the name at the tip of his tongue, but it's burning him. He's burning all over. He knows who he is. He is important to him. He knows the name. It's a name that he knows he has whispered over and over again. A name he can only call out with tender and passionate emotions. It's the name of the one who had saved him over and over before. Not because he was stronger than Ash physically, but because he needed to save him and protect him. He saved Ash by giving him a purpose to live. He saved Ash by teaching him how to love…Eiji.

"Then, I'll just have to move to another apartment." Eiji chuckled as he cradled the tiny animal in his arms as the two of them walked away.

Ash clutched his head as he walked away. He wanted so much to reach out, but not now. Not as Damien. Crimson Lion men were probably prowling around the city. The last thing he wants to happen is to drag Sing and Eiji between the Lee Group and the Crimson Lions' wars.

Eiji.

Hahaha. Eiji.

Eiji…

Eiji…

Eiji!

My Eiji.

My sweet Eiji.

Ash couldn't believe it. His hands were shaking from the excitement and wanton feeling of holding the person that was in front of him. The final piece of the jigsaw puzzle finally put into place. Eiji. That was his name. The name of the person he wanted to die for. The person he wanted to live for. The person he wanted to be with forever. For the first time since it rained, he was thankful that the downpour was heavy. He was crying tears of joy. Joy because he finally found his reason for living, the love of his life. But he was also crying tears of pain. Because it was painful not being able to run only a few feet over and touch Eiji - his Eiji. If only he were free he would reach over to him, hug him tight, apologize for the pain he must have caused him after his attempted suicide, kiss him over and over and over again until their hearts melt into one, until both of them can confirm that they are both alive and together.

He clasps his chest as he catches his breath in another bus stop close to a small neighborhood park. His breath panting and huffing loud enough to be heard through the rain.

Beep!

His phone chimes and vibrates inside his bomber jacket. He wanted to bask in the feeling of finally being able to see Eiji but first, he had a mission to do. He turns the phone screen on to check the message one of the lackeys sent him: "We're going soon. Boss said to meet up at the pick-up point in an hour."

Ash grins and adjusts his disguise. His heart burning with a newfound motivation to finish the infiltration mission Yut-Lung gave him.

Yut-Lung that bastard. He probably knew all along about Eiji but he never told me. Him and Blanca both. Those fuckers. I'm going to have to figure out a way to contact them.

Ash smiles and looks for another truck to hitch on.

"I don't have much time to explain it but you can ask Sing for the data. It's on my computer back in New York. I'm pretty sure it's still there. He should know where it's at. I'll just adjust as your men move during the ops."

Hideout: Location sent

SEA Regional hideout: Location sent

Shanghai: Location sent

Boss residence: Location sent

Map 1 file sent

Map 2 file sent

Map 3 file sent

Map 4 file sent

Blueprint image sent

NOV_Shipment file sent

After he sent the files, Ash removed the throwaway USB drive that he used to boot a computer and contact the Lee Group. He can only send them information but he has no way to get any response. They had to be extra careful knowing how advanced Crimson Lion is with their security and use of technology. It's been a few months since he started remembering Eiji. It took him long enough to earn the trust of the leaders of the Crimson Lion and get information from them when they finally lower their guard around him. He had to learn how to tread lightly within the Chinese triad. Like most organized crime, triads are bound on loyalty and familial ties.

Being extra careful not to blow his cover, he only contacts Blanca every couple of months. And even then, it's through a computer booted from a USB drive that he keeps with him all the time.

The data that Ash was talking about was the underground operations of the top dogs of Crimson Lion that Ash had encountered years ago back when he still ruled over gangs in Manhattan. Xi Lao Chien was the 11th head of the Crimson Lion organized crime and it just so happen that he was a frequent visitor to child prostitution bars that Papa Dino had been associated with before. All the data he had gathered about him had been stored all this time in his old computer. He knew that from time to time Yut-Lung and Sing would communicate with each other, after all the Lee Group still controlled most of the trade (and smuggling) in Chinatown. Yut-Lung would be able to use this information one way or another and give it to Interpol so they can capture the Crimson Lion leaders- mostly because of their huge child and human trafficking ring.

Geisler agreed to overlook the Lee Group's money laundering and smuggling if they let InterPol capture the leaders of the crime ring instead of letting it blow up into an all-out war that would agitate the balance of power in Asia's crime scene. Yut-Lung was skeptical about the condition at first and was leaning towards declining the offer because it might seem like he's lowering himself under Interpol but after much deliberation and advice from Blanca, Yut-Lung decided that in the longer run, it would be beneficial to the posterity of the group if they could avoid other organized crime groups to come after them.

After Ash sends the data over to Yut-Lung and the InterPol, what's left to do is to wait until they act on their operation. When InterPol raids their hideouts and headquarter, it's now Ash's turn to escape back to Hong Kong from there, put Yut-Lung up to keep his word, and set him free to go back to Eiji. But for now, he had to stay put in their hideout in Chiang Mai, Thailand where they're keeping the children and women that they have abducted or have been sold to. There are 7 small rooms - cells more like where the women and children are kept in 15 to a room - 105 victims, all in all, one of their biggest batches to date. Many of these were children and young teenagers that they have been grooming and fattening up for a few months now.

Ash looks at his clock where the date is displayed on a small analog display. November 3rd. He clicks his tongue. In a week from now, they were supposed to ship their "goods" out to China and the USA. If InterPol would want to rescue these people before they get shipped out, anytime before next week would be ideal.

When nothing happened in the next three days. Ash started getting antsy. He wanted to put some trust in the authorities but then again when were the authorities ever when he needed them? He was standing close to where the cells were, bossing over the lackeys who had the responsibility to take care of their "merchandise".

Yut-Lung agreed to let the InterPol handle it but he's at least waiting for them to contact him sometime soon to give him a hint when the raid will be. The only thing he could do right now is to twiddle his thumbs and wait for any sign.

"Oi. Damien," a lackey came and tapped the door to the hideout lounge where Ash was reading the newspaper. "There's a delivery man outside the building looking for someone to sign the paper. But we're not expecting anything." The lackey was obviously a bit nervous - probably a greenhorn who had no real balls even after joining a Chinese triad. "Get the boss to do it," Ash whips his head and looks away. "B-but he's taking a nap!" The lackey obviously more afraid of bothering the boss. Ash clicks his tongue and stands up, flicks his handgun off his holster in a split second and points it toward the shaking lackey, "Don't forget your place you dipshit. I'm still over you. You can't order me around." He usually tries to keep a happy-go-lucky façade as Damien Bancroft but it's getting harder and harder to keep pretending when he's antsy and starting to get impatient. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" the grunt shook in fear, "It's just that it's weird! They were looking for a signatory called Banana Fish, I don't know anyone with that alias so I tho-"

"Who were they looking for?" Ash looms closer to the lackey.

"B-ba-banana F-fish" the lackey quivered the words out. Getting more and more scared of Ash's frantic reaction.

Ash grabbed the shorter lackey's shoulder and pushed him aside, "fine I'll take care of it," he strode out, trying not to show his smile on his face. Banana Fish huh, it's been a while since I heard that. They know that I'm the only one who would recognize that name.

Ash opened the gate, "Who's looking for Banana Fish?" Ash smirks out the question.

He was right.

"Agent Welsh. Are you Ash Lynx?" The bulky dark-skinned agent flashed his InterPol badge. Ash smirked. "The one and only." Welsh turns to his side and nods to another agent next to him before looking back at Ash. "Go with Agent Yao and he'll accompany you to reunite with your group. Some of them are raiding smaller hideouts."

With the gates now open, InterPol agents raided through the front door. Gunfire could be heard from within the walled hideout. Agent Yao was the muscular-yet-lanky taller Asian man who stood behind as the rest of the agents raided the warehouse. He spits on the ground next to him before he addressed Ash. "Your triad friends told us to pass on your escape route. There's a helicopter waiting for you at Ho Chi Minh in 24 hours." He nonchalantly tossed a plastic bag towards Ash.

Ash shrugs at Agent Yao's indifference. Can't blame him. Ash is a criminal tied to one of the biggest triads in China. Police officers like Agent Yao probably don't agree with InterPol's methods of cooperating with organized crime groups, even if it means working to capture the bigger evil.

Instead of thinking about Agent Yao's attitude with him he instead peeks inside the plastic bag. Inside, there's a fresh change of disguise for him. Nothing fancy. Just a cap, a cotton shirt and a pair of jeans. There's also a small plastic sachet of black hair color styling gel.

"We had to take precautions. Chinese triads don't treat spies and traitors nice" Agent Yao's thick accent seeps through his English. "It's best that they don't find out about your whereabouts." Yao spits to the ground again before grabbing his gun from his holster and walking towards the warehouse to join the other agents.

Ash sighs at the agent walking away from him. They didn't even give me a gun - or money for transport.

Ash jumps inside the back of the parked truck to change into his disguise. He knows he's somewhere in Cambodia, near the touristy city of Sihanoukville. Without a vehicle of his own, the only way he can reach Ho Chi Mihn is to stow away in a boat to the Mekong delta or hitch-hike to Phnom Penh and to Ho Chi Mihn from there.

I have no time to stand here. I need to reach Ho Chi Minh In less than 24 hours. As soon as he's done changing, he immediately started heading to town. Hopefully one way or another he can find a way to get to Phnom Penh.

Just in luck, as he was walking on the main road, he saw a fish delivery truck headed for Phnom Penh. He waved to the truck driver and tried to explain in broken English to make it easier for the middle-aged delivery man to understand him, "Need help to go to Phnom Penh. Lost my wallet. No money for train." Good thing, the friendly local was more than happy to let him hop in the shotgun. "Orkun!" Ash smiles and gives the driver a small bow.

I feel like someone's stalking me.

Ash tries to blend in with the busy Phnom Penh crowd. It should be pretty easy to pickpocket someone in a big city like this. He looks for a careless target that could give him money to take a bus to Ho Chi Minh. "Bingo" Ash smiles. There's a street thug who obviously has a wallet in his back pocket. Ash immediately walks in front of the muscular thug who proceeded to offensively threaten him in Khmer.

Ash bows over and over to feign innocence, acting like an innocent passerby, "Som toos. Som toos."

That was easy.

By the time he left the street and into a smaller road, he was a couple of dollars richer.

When he turned around to go back downtown to go to a bus station and catch a ride to Vietnam, he was stopped in his tracks. In front of him was the angry glare of a familiar young boy. The boy was glaring at him while gripping a bamboo stick in his right hand. He probably wasn't even six years old.

"Bankrop!" the boy shouted before he proceeded to run towards Ash. Then he remembered. It's that feisty kid from Crimson Lion's prison. "Careful. You'll hurt yourself" Ash says as he doges the attack and disarms the kid. Little twerp's probably trying to capture me because he thought I was a bad guy. Well- I guess I'm not exactly the good guy either. Wait- did he follow me all the way? Man. What a gutsy fucker.

He crouched down to the kid's level and continued to block the kid's wild punches. "You're a brave one aren't you?" He tried to pacify the kid by grabbing both wrists in one hand.

You'll need that bravery to survive this wild world kid.

Ash stands up and lightly kicks the boy in the rear. The boy doesn't get hurt but the kick is enough to throw his balance off and push him to the ground. He continues to leer at Ash and talks in Vietnamese. "I know someone who can take you in if you want to come with me. Your choice kid."

Most likely, the boy never understood a word of what the taller foreigner in front of him was saying. But in some way or another, he understood that it was an invitation.

The boy stands up and dusts off his tattered clothes before looking at Ash with a renewed look of ambition.

"Yeah, we'll have to get you new clothes. Otherwise, it'll look like I kidnapped you or something."

"Achoo!" Sing sneezes into his elbow much to his Facetime partner's chagrin, "sorry. It's kinda cold in here right now." He wipes his nose with the long sleeves of his flannel shirt, "you know how NYC winters are."

On the other side of the screen is Yut-Lung. Sing had just finished reporting about the new loan business the Lee Group franchised in a New York borough. Despite being a dean's lister, Sing also did some business for the Lee Group on the side. Yut-Lung thought it would be a good win-win situation for them - Yut-Lung gets a better grip on the triad's overseas operations, while Sing learns a few practical skills

"As I was saying…" Sing continues from his report, "if you want me to implement some new changes to your loan policy. You have to give it to me as soon as you can. I'm coming over to Massachusetts in a few weeks."

"What businesses do you have over there?"

"Oh, well…Eiji." Sing trails off, "he goes there every year for Ash's death anniversary. I'm scared he might jump off the cliff so I go with him every year."

Poor thing still believes Ash is dead huh. Yut-Lung shrugs and tries to keep a straight face.

"Well…send my regards to him. I'll have one of my secretaries to send you the new policy. I'll ask old man Wong what he thinks."

"What the fuck happened while I was away?" Ash muses as he enters Yut-Lung's office inside the Lee Group's mansion. Yut-Lung was talking to one of the group's young members - a stoic-looking spectacled man in a suit holding a clipboard of graphs and charts.

"I was gone for a few years and when I came back, Blanca wouldn't shut up at the helicopter about how excited he is to see you and sappy shit. Like…what the fuck."

The other man coughed and left the room as he saw his master turn red.

As if on cue, Blanca came in the room just as the suited man left the room. Blanca's strides immediately redirected towards Yut-Lung. The young master was obviously not too happy with him telling the world about their new relationship.

Blanca just laughs it off, much to Yut-Lung's pouty annoyance. "Anyway…glad to know you got your memory back."

Now it was Ash's turn to glare at Blanca and walk towards him. "Yeah I couldn't punch you earlier because you were piloting the helicopter-" Ash lands a solid blow to Blanca's right cheek.

(A small muffled mumble from Yut-Lung, "not his face!")

Blanca lost a bit of balance but stood up straight again, rubbing his cheek. "Why so violent Ash. I just rescued you."

"Rescued me, my ass. You knew about the memories I lost and how important Eiji was to me and yet you- you let me live those years without remembering him!"

Blanca cocks his head and lets out a sigh before punches him back on the jaw, "What are you doing hanging out here then?"

Yut-Lung releases an exasperated sigh as if he was looking at two boys happily punching each other as a greeting. "Sing told me that they're going to Cape Cod."

Ash immediately got on his feet and rubbed his bruised lip. He turned around to leave the room.

"Let us know how long you'll be away. We need to make sure the -" Blanca tried to shout at him but it didn't take Ash that long to exit the room, "and he's gone."


End file.
